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THE  LIFE 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN, 

HEIR-APPARENT    TO    THE    "GOVERNMENT," 

AND    THE    APPOINTED    SUCCESSOR    OF 

GENERAL  ANDREW  JACKSON. 


EVBRT    AUTHENTIC    PARTICULAR     BY     WHICH    HIS    EXTRAORDI 
NARY     CHARACTER    UAS    BEEN    FORMED. 

WITH 

A   CONCISE   HISTORY 

OF   TIIF 

EVENTS    THAT    HAVE    OCCASIONED    HIS    UNPARALLELED 

ELEVATION  J     TOGETHER    WITH    A    REVIEW    OF 

HIS    POLICY    AS    A    STATESMAN. 


'Good  Lord  !  what  is  VAN  ! — for  though  simple  he  looks, 
Tis  a  task  to  unravel  his  looks  and  his  crooks  ; 
With  his  depths  and  his  shallows,  his  good  and  his  evil, 
All  in  all,  he's  a  Riddle  must  puzzle  the  devil." 


BY   DAVID    CROCKETT. 

SIXTEENTH    EDITION. 

PHILADELPHIA : 
ROBERT    V/  R  I  G  II  T. 

AND     FOR     SALE     BT     ALT.     BOOKSELLERS. 
1837. 


ENTERED  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835,  by 

Robert    Wright, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Penn 
sylvania. 


PRINTED    B1     f.   K.    AND    P.  G.  COLT. INS. 


PREFACE. 


STATESMEN  are  gamesters,  and  the  people  are 
the  cards  they  play  with.  And  it  is  curious  to  see 
how  good  the  comparison  holds  as  to  all  the  games, 
the  shuffling,  and  the  tricks  performed  with  them 
sort  of  books,  as  they  are  sometimes  called.  From 
"  three,  up"  to  "  whist"  from  a  "  constable"  to  a 
"president"  the  hands  are  always  dealing  out; 
and  in  both  cases,  the  way  they  cut  and  shuffle  is 
a  surprise  to  all  young  beginners. 

The  present  "  government"  has  been  a  great 
sportsman  in  his  time ;  and  he  has  played  at  both 
games  with  equal  success :  and  not  content  with 
his  own  good  luck,  he  is  actually  giving  item  in 
.favour  of  another,  and  has  so  shuffled  and  stocked 
the  cards,  that  unless  we  can  cut  the  pack  in  the 
the  right  place,  he  will  turn  up  a  Jack  upon  the 
country. 

I  have  gone  fur  enough  on  this  hook  to  show 
what  I  mean :  the  people  are  tricked  and  cheated, 
and  what  is  worse,  they  are  satisfied  to  stay  so.  If 
any  one  tells  them  that  they  are  used  by  political 

38SOG4  3 


4  ^Vf  ;  PREFACE. 

gamblers  as  a  blacksmith  uses  his  tongs,  they  fly  into 
a  passion,  and  say  it  is  all  a  trick  to  abuse  Jackson, 
If  you  ask  them  what  it  is  that  makes  Van  Buren 
fit  for  a  president,  and  why  it  is  that  General  Jack 
son  has  appointed  him  for  his  successor,  they  an 
swer,  "  he  has  been  persecuted  for  Jackson's  sake." 
Jackson,  they  say,  has  done  enough,  not  only  to 
reign  himself  as  long  as  he  wants  to,  but  to  say 
who  shall  reign  after  him.  But  the  good  of  this 
joke  is,  these  same  people  call  themselves  demo 
cratic  republicans  !  Republicans !  unable  to 
choose  for  themselves,  and  consenting  to  give  that 
right  to  a  single  individual.  What  think  you  of 
that? 

We  read  that  when  the  democratic  republicans 
of  France  gave  Bonaparte  the  privilege  to  nomi 
nate  his  successor,  they  became  ashamed  of  their 
name,  for  it  was  too  barefaced  to  keep  it  up  after 
that;  and  they  called  themselves  the  dutiful  sub 
jects  of  that  glorification  hero.  I  make  one  reflec 
tion  right  here  :  if  any  member  of  the  convention 
that  formed  the  constitution  had  proposed  that  the 
president  should  appoint  his  successor,  the  motion 
would  have  been  scouted  out  of  the  House ;  and 
yet  that  principle  is  now  about  to  be  acted  out,  in 
full  blast,  in  the  case  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  Mar 
tin  Van  Buren.  It  cannot  be  denied.  It  is  need- 


PREFACE.  5 

less  to  say  it  is  done  by  the  will  of  the  people  ; 
law  is  nothing  but  the  will  of  the  people.  The 
only  difference  is,  the  last  goes  through  certain 
forms,  and  becomes  fixed  for  a  time ;  but  if  it  is  a 
good  principle  as  between  President  Jackson  and 
Van  Buren,  it  is  equally  so  as  between  all  future 
presidents  and  their  pets,  and  ought  to  be  carried 
into  a  law.  Now,  as  little  as  people  think  of  this 
matter,  if  this  principle  was  grafted  on  our  consti 
tution,  it  would  change  the  whole  character  of  the 
government;  and  instead  of  a  republic,  it  would 
be  a  right-down  monarchy,  and  nothing  else  ;  and 
things  ought  to  be  called  by  their  right  name. 
There  would  not  be  left  a  democratic  republican 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth  in  all  America.  That 
fine  party  name  that  has  gulled,  now  gulls,  and  will 
gull  thousands  of  people,  would  have  to  give  place 
to  another  catch- word.  Wonder  what  Maine  and 
New  Hampshire  would  do  for  their  word  "  demo 
cracy."  It  would  scatter  'em  for  a  while ;  but  I 
rather  think  they  would  rally  under  another  »f 
quite  a  different  meaning — one  that  meant  submis 
sion  ;  showing  a  first-rate  willingness  not  to  think 
for  themselves,  but  to  be  ready  to  go  or  do,  where 
or  whatever  a  leader  or  deputy-leader  might  point 
or  plan. 

I  say,  then,  it  is  in  vain  to  deny  that  if  Van 
A  2 


6  PREFACE. 

Buren  is  elected,  it  is  wholly  and  solely  upon  the 
strength  of  General  Jackson's  popularity,  and  his 
having  the  good  fortune  to  be  selected  hy  the  old 
gentleman  as  his  successor. }  He  nor  his  friends 
plead  no  merit  in  himself ;  there  is  no  manner  of 
good  thing  in  him,  and  that  he  has  no  earthly 
chance  of  reaching  the  presidential  chair  but  in  and 
through  the  "  greatest  and  best."  What  has  he 
done  that  entitles  him  to  such  distinction  ?  His 
friends  are  so  conscious  that  the  people  everywhere 
look  upon  him  with  a  jealous  eye,  that  they  are 
either  afraid  or  ashamed  to  come  out  with  his  name 
openly.  Look  at  the  Van  Burenites  in  Virginia, 
where  Rives  and  Ritchie  are  trying  to  smuggle 
him  in  upon  the  people.  They  won't  come  out 
flat-footed  for  him,  but  are  moving  on  tip-toe,  to 
catch  the  people  a  napping,  and  by-and-by  they 
will  hurra  for  Van  Buren  as  the  candidate  of  the 
great  republican  party,  nominated  by  the  Balti 
more  packed  convention,  and  that  the  democratic 
republicans  must  support  him,  to  keep  from  di 
viding-  the  party.  In  North  Carolina  it  is  the 
same  thing ;  although  the  office-holders  and  their 
friends  intend  to  support  Van  Buren  with  all  their 
might,  yet  they  pretend  they  will  leave  the  whole 
matter  to  a  caucus  at  Baltimore,  and  yet  they  won't 
send  anybody  there  who  will  not  first  pledge  him- 


PREFACE.  7 

self  for  Van  Buren.  What  sort  of  a  convention  is 
this;  filled  with  no  other  sort  of  delegates  but  whole- 
hog  Van  Buren  men?  Why  don't  the  managers  who 
send  representatives  to  the  convention,  nominate 
him  themselves  ?  They  might  as  well  do  it  as  in 
struct  their  representatives  to  do  it  WThere  is  the 
difference?  No;  they  know  better;  they  know 
that  Van  ain't  the  choice  of  the  people,  no  how, 
nor  of  his  whole  party ;  and  they  are  afraid  to  try 
his  chance  single-handed,  in  the  states ;  they  want 
the  mutual  support  of  several  states,  backed  by  the 
all-powerful  influence  of  Old  Hickory.  Hence 
you  see  the  Enquirer,  the  Globe,  the  Albany 
Argus,  and  all  the  little  fry,  coming  out  and  say 
ing  that  Judge  White's  offering  is  in  opposition  to 
General  Jackson's  administration.  Now,  what  has 
General  Jackson's  administration  to  do  with  the 
next  president  ?  Don't  this  prove  that  Van  Buren 
is  General  Jackson's  appointed  successor,  and  that 
White's  daring  to  offer  is  in  opposition  to  Jack 
son's  wishes  ?  Don't  it  show  that  the  people  must 
not  think  or  even  talk  about  choosing  anybody 
but  the  man  selected  by  General  Jackson's  admi 
nistration  ?  And  who  is  General  Jackson's  admi 
nistration  ?  Why  everybody  knows  it  is  none  but 
the  office-holders  ;  they  have  got  the  government 
in  their  hands,  and  there  they  intend  to  keep  it. 


8  PREFACE, 

And  the  way  they  intend  to  keep  it  is  by  getting 
a  president  they  can  manage  as  they  have  old 
General  Jackson.  And  the  way  they  intend  to  get 
a  president  is  by  getting^up  a  caucus  at  Baltimore, 
filled  with,  and  elected  by,  men  of  their  own  stamp. 
They  intend  to  call  this  meeting  a  convention  of 
the  democratic  republicans,  and  proclaim  with  a 
loud  voice  that  whoever  they  nominate  must  be 
supported  by  the  whole  republican  party,  well 
knowing  that  Van  Buren  will  be  nominated,  be 
cause  their  tools  were  sent  there  for  that  purpose, 
and  that  alone.  Who  else  has  ever  been  spoken 
of  but  Van  Buren  to  be  presented  to  that  conven 
tion  ?  Has  not  every  delegation  or  member  yet 
chosen,  been  positively  instructed  to  vote  for 
Van  Buren  ?  And  who  are  these  delegates  elected 
by?  Does  any  one  dare  to  say  it  is  by  the  peo 
ple  at  large  ?  Does  more  than  one  man  in  a 
thousand  know  any  thing  about  it  ?  Is  any  time 
and  place  specified,  and  the  legal  voters  for  the 
president  invited  to  attend  and  choose  a  repre 
sentative  to  go  to  Baltimore  to  nominate  a  presi 
dent  for  them  ?  I  call  upon  the  people  in  general 
to  ask  themselves  the  following  questions :  Who 
authorized  these  delegates  to  dictate  to  us  who  we 
should  vote  for  as  president  ?  When  did  we  ap 
point  them,  for  this  purpose  ?  When  and  where 


REFACE.  9 

did  we  attend  to  appoint  these  delegates  ?  Now, 
a  satisfactory  answer  to  these  simple  questions  will 
soon  show  whether  Mr.  Martin  Van  Buren  is  se 
lected  by  the  people  as  a  candidate :  and  if  he  is 
not,  let  us  hear  no  more  about  his  being  nominated 
by  a  convention  of  the  people.  I  can  tell  you  who 
appoints  these  conventioners — a  postmaster,  a  by- 
authority  printer,  or  some  such  understrapper  to 
the  kitchen  cabinet,  and  about  one  dozen  roudics, 
who  can  always  be  pressed  into  any  service  when 
there  is  liquor;  and  then  this  goes  forth  to  the 
world  as  an  appointment  made  by  the  great  demo 
cratic  republican  party.  I  know  an  appointment 
made  by  a  meeting  in  one  of  the  states,  where  there 
was  but  nine  men  besides  the  president  and  secre 
tary  ;  and  this  delegate  wras  to  represent  seventy 
thousand  persons.  Call  you  this  republicanism.? 
Wonder  where  such  republicanism  come  from ! 
It  ain't  Tennessee  notions  ;  and  if  it  didn't  come 
from  Maine  or  New  Hampshire — both  great  states 
for  democracy — it  must  have  come  from  New 
York,  where  they  don't  count  units,  tens,  hun 
dreds,  &c.,  as  they  do  in  ciphering;  but  where 
they  count  one,  man  for  a  thousand. 

I  want  to  make  another  reflection  at  this  place. 
Suppose  a  member  of  Congress  should  propose, 
at  the  next  session,  an  amendment  to  the  constitu- 


10  PREFACE. 

tion,  providing  for  the  better  appointment  of  the 
president  and  vice-president,  requiring  that  the 
office-holders  in  the  federal  government,  being  the 
leaders  and  gainers  of  the  party  in  power,  should 
have  the  nomination  of  those  officers  ;  and  that  it 
should  be  done  by  their  directing  little  squads  of 
petty-place  men  to  assemble  the  grog-shop  politi 
cians  at  any  time  and  place  they  might  think  pro 
per,  to  choose  a  delegate  to  meet  in  Baltimore,  to 
nominate,  not  a  man  from  any  given  number  of 
candidates,  but  a  certain  individual  then  and  there 
named  by  these  aforesaid  little  squads,  and  which 
they  are  ashamed  to  propose  openly  to  the  people 
in  the  state  where  they  appoint  their  delegate,  ex 
pecting  to  cram  him  down  the  people's  throats  by 
force  of  party  drill.  Does  any  man  believe  for  one 
moment  that  such  a  proposition  would  go  down ; 
would  be  listened  to  for  a  single  instant  ?  And 
yet  this  is  going  to  be  the  future  mode  of  appoint 
ing  our  president,  through  all  time,  unless  the  good 
hard  sense  of  the  people  set  their  faces  against  it. 
Will  they  not  do  it?  Will  they  consent  to  a  prac 
tice  which  they  would  blush  to  see  put  into  our 
constitution  ?  Why,  the  election  of  the  president 
was  and  is  a  matter  of  more  concern  than  all  the 
ither  things  put  together  in  our  government.  To 
aave  that  straight  and  square,  cost  more  pains  and 


PREFACE.  1 1 

solid  work  than  all  the  other  framing  in  the  con 
stitution  put  together  ;  and  now,  forsooth,  this 
great  officer,  upon  which  the  very  gumtion  of  the 
government  depends,  is  to  be  chosen  by  the  very 
scurf  of  creation,  the  very  men — the  office-holders 
and  office-hunters — that  was  guarded  against  by 
the  framers  of  the  constitution,  as  likely  to  have 
too  much  influence  in  his  election1. 

Now  this  contrivance  is  about  to  be  brought  in 
play  in  favour  of  the  little  gentleman  whose  poli 
tical  life  I  am  about  to  give  to  the  public ;  and  it 
is  thought  to  be  more  necessary,  as  he  is  to  have 
an  opponent  from  his  own  party  of  equal  talents, 
and  ten  thousand  times  more  honesty.  The  office 
holders  see  his  danger,  and  they  are  moving  hea 
ven  and  earth  to  beat  off  this  opponent,  who,  by- 
the-by,  is  a 'full  team  harness  of  the  broad  strap, 
and  well  reined  up.  The  matter  is  all  arranged ; 
the  appointment  of  delegates  is  going  on  ;  the  time 
and  place  is  appointed ;  and  Van  Buren  is  to  be 
nominated — no  one  daring  to  think  of,  much  less 
mention,  another  candidate — by  an  unanimous  vote 
of  the  convention.  Nay,  the  cunning  scheme  has 
come  to  that  part  of  the  show  where  the  <e  greatest 
and  best"  makes  his  appearance  on  the  stage,  to 
give  effect  to  the  whole  play.  In  a  late  letter 
which  Genera]  Jackson's  keepers  have  made  him 


12  PREFACE. 

write  to  some  reverend  somebody  in  Tennessee, 
the  whole  matter  is  come  out.  For  a  man  that 
has  as  much  resolution  and  fight  in  him  as  Gene 
ral  Jackson,  there  never  was  one  in  any  part  of 
creation  that  was  so  easy  to  be  duped.  A  child, 
much  less  such  artful  skunks  as  he  has  about  him, 
may  impose  upon  him,  and  make  him  do  any  thing 
they  wish,  if  it  is  not  openly  dishonourable,  by  just 
praising  his  battles,  or  abusing  his  enemies.  He  is 
all  passion  ;  does  nothing  from  judgment ;  moves 
right  on  from  the  first  strong  feeling,  and  this  is 
kindled  in  a  minute,  by  just  touching  the  strings 
above  mentioned.  His  ruling  passion  is  revenge. 
Some  people  think  he  acts  from  friendship;  but 
there  is  no  greater  mistake.  If  he  serves  anybody, 
it  is  to  injure  an  enemy.  Could  his  heart  be 
opened  and  read,  all  his  friendship  for  Van  Buren 
— and  it  is  greater  for  him  than  anybody  in  the 
world — arises  from  his  hatred  to  Calhoun  ;  and  the 
letter  above  referred  to  proves  that  fact,  and  shows 
that  he  is  about  to  give  up  an  old,  long-tried,  faith 
ful  friend,  Judge  White,  who  stuck  to  him  through 
all  his  tribulations  ;  helped  to  raise  his  fortunes 
from  the  beginning ;  adventurers  together  in  a 
new  country;  friends  in  youth  and  in  old  age; 
fought  together  in  the  same  battles;  risked  the 
same  dangers  ;  starved  together  in  the  some 


PREFACE.  13 

deserts,  merely  to  gratify  this  revengeful  feeling. 
And  this  is  plain  to  every  thinking  man,  because  7 
they  must  see  that  Van  Buren  is  as  opposite  to 
General  Jackson  as  dung  is  to  a  diamond.  Jack 
son  is  open,  bold,  warm-hearted,  confiding,  and 
passionate  to  a  fault.  Van  Buren  is  secret,  sly, 
selfish,  cold,  calculating,  distrustful,  treacherous ; 
and  if  he  could  gain  an  object  just  as  well  by 
openness  as  intrigue,  he  would  choose  the  latter. 
Now,  how  can  such  men  sort  together,  if  it  is  not 
accounted  for  upon  some  passion  stronger  than  all 
the  rest  that  usually  regulates  the  conduct  of  men  ? 
Yes,  and  this  passion  is  revenge.  It  hears  nothing, 
sees  nothing,  feels  nothing,  behind  or  beyond  the 
killing  stone  dead  of  its  enemy. 

Now  let  us  go  back  to  the  letter.  General  Jack 
son  is  made  to  say  by  his  managers  to  this  afore 
said  preacher,  "  You  are  at  liberty  to  say,  ON  ALL 
OCCASIONS,  that,  regarding  the  people  as  the  true 
source  of  power,  I  am  always  ready  to  bow  to 
their  will  [Oh,  how  submissive!]  and  to  their  judg 
ment;  that,  discarding  all  personal  preferences,  I 
consider  it  the  true  policy  of  the  friends  of  repub 
lican  principles,  to  send  delegates  fresh  from  the 

people,  to  a 'GENERAL  CONVENTION,  for 

the  purpose  of  selecting  candidates  for  the  presi 
dency  and  vice-presidency  ;  and  that  to  impeach 
B 


14  PREFACE. 

that  election,  before  it  is  made,  or  to  resist  it 
when  it  is  fairly  made,  as  an  emanation  of  execu 
tive  power,  is  to  assail  the  virtue  of  the  people, 
and,  in  effect,  to  oppose  their  right  to  govern" 

Any  man  whose  sense  allows  of  his  going  at 
large,  will  see,  when  he  comes  to  look  right  close 
at  this  matter,  that  General  Jackson  could  not  have 
more  effectually  dictated  to  the  people  who  they 
should  elect  as  president,  than  if  he  had  said  "  Oh 
yes"  three  times  to  all  the  good  people  of  the 
Union,  and  then  have  proclaimed  that  "  it  is  the 
will  and  pleasure  of  Andrew  Jackson  that  Martin 
Van  Buren  be  chosen  his  successor  to  the  high 
office  of  President  of  these  United  States ;  hereof, 
fail  not,  under  the  penalty  of  treason."  Now  let 
us  examine  the  case.  For  six  years  back,  the  Jack 
son  party  has  had  no  other  person  in  keeping  for 
the  presidency  but  Martin  Van  Buren.  For  the 
last  two  years,  he  has  been  the  exclusive  can 
didate,  all  the  leaders  of  his  party  yielding  to  him 
an  undisputed  right  to  the  field.  But  the  people 
not  altogether  liking  so  well  his  character  and  his 
principles,  knowing  nothing  good  of  him,  and 
always  hearing  his  name  mentioned  in  connexion 
with  tricks  and  juggling,  they  have  determined  to 
start  a  candidate  of  their  own,  independent  of  the 
office-holders.  All  at  once  the  wire-drawers  get 


PREFACE.  15 

into  a  prodigious  fidget  about  a  convention;  and 
they  must  have  a  candidate  nominated  by  a  conven 
tion.  The  man  they  have  all  along  held  up  as  their 
candidate,  and  who,  they  yet  intend,  shall  be  the 
only  candidate  on  their  side,  must  submit  his  pre 
tensions  to  a  convention  of  democratic  republicans, 
no  one  daring  to  oppose  him.  Well,  a  convention  is 
resolved  upon;  time  and  place  appointed;  delegates 
chosen,  pledged  to  vote  for  no  one  but  Van  Buren  ; 
the  thing  just  as  positively  fixed,  and  the  end 
secured,  as  if  he  had  been  nominated  two  years 
ago,  when  they  first  fairly  started  him :  and  then, 
behold,  General  Jackson,  at  the  very  nick  of  time 
when  the  project  is  all  ripe,  knowing  his  power 
and  the  servility  of  his  blind  followers,  is  made  to 
come  out  to  a  reverend  preacher,  in  all  humility 
to  the  people,  bowing  to  their  will  and  judgment, 
discarding  all  personal  preferences,  (by-the-by,  if 
I  have  ever  known  General  Jackson  guilty  of  right 
down  hypocrisy,  here  is  the  very  instance,  too  plain 
to  be  overlooked,)  and  saying  that  he  wished  it  men 
tioned  on  "all  occasions"  that  HE  considers  it 
the  true  policy  to  send  delegates  FRESH  from  the 
people  to  a  general  convention,  for  the  purpose 
of  selecting  candidates  for  the  presidency  and  vice- 
presidency;  and  this,  after  he  knows  such  conven 
tion  is  packed  and  stocked  to  nominate  Martin  Van 


1'6  PREFACE. 

Buren,  the  delegates  all  chosen  and  instructed  to 
do  that  very  thing.     Can  any  thing  be  more  bare 
faced  ?     And  yet  the  people  will  pretend  they  do 
not  understand  all  this.     And  as  if  the  above  was 
not  enough  to  make  the  people  stand  up  to  their 
rack,  he  adds,  "  to  impeach  that  election  before  it 
is  made,  or  to  resist  it  after  it  is  made,  is  to  assail 
the  virtue  of  the  people,  and  to  oppose  their  right 
to  govern."     Now,   good  reader,  are  you   suffi 
ciently  acquainted  with  the  history  of  politics  for 
the  last  eight  years,  to  remember  that  at  the  first 
election  of  General  Jackson,  he  and  all  his  friends 
went  dead  against  a  convention,  that  they  broke  it 
down,  and  he  was  himself  actually  elected  against 
this  very  "  true  policy"  of  "fresh  delegates"  to 
a  "  general  convention"  ?     What  will  honest  peo 
ple  think  of  such  unblushing  inconsistency?     Is 
there  no  shame  in  the  world  ?     Indeed,  it  would 
seem  so,  for  nothing  is  too  deceitful,  now-a-days, 
to   be  used  for   political   purposes.     The,  people 
would  not  submit  to  a  caucus — which  is  only  an 
other  name  for  convention — in  the  case  of  Mr. 
Crawford ;  and  it  was  fast  going  down  to  infamy 
until  Van  Buren  and  his  friends  revived  it.    In  the 
second  term  of  General  Jackson,  when  he  was  un 
opposed  by  any  one  of  his  own  party,  (for  cau 
cuses  are  only  intended  to  settle  disputes  between 


PREFACE.  17 

rivals  of  the  same  party,)  when,  by  reason  of  serv 
ing  one  term,  the  honour  of  which  he  had  acquired 
without  a  convention,  it  was  looked  for  that  he 
would  try  another — when,  in  fine,  a  convention 
was  wholly  unnecessary,  so  far  as  General  Jackson 
was  concerned — what  does  Van  Buren  and  his 
friends  do,  but  gets  up  a  convention  to  nominate 
himself  for  vice-president,  and  a  candidate  for  pre 
sident  that  was  already  out,  and  known  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  nation.  And  what 
was  all  this  for  ?  Why,  merely  to  re-establish  the 
old  instrument,  so  successfully  used  in  New  York 
tactics,  of  caucuses.  This  was  to  serve  as  a  prece 
dent  wrhen  he  was  to  be  brought  upon  the  field : 
and  now,  a  mode  of  electing  candidates,  contrary 
to  the  spirit  of  our  government,  opposed  to  the 
interest  of  the  small  states,  employed  by  a  handful 
of  interested  and  designing  men,  in  which  not  one 
in  one  thousand  of  the  people  have  any  agency, 
regulated  and  conducted  by  office-holders,  which 
General  Jackson  himself  disapproved  and  repro 
bated  six  years  ago,  and  over  which  he  triumphed 
— is  the  true,  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  "  friends 
of  republican  principles" !  Wonderful ! 

I  have  been  led  into  these  remarks  by  the  facts 
which  will  hereafter  be  presented  in  the  life  of  the 
.ndividual  I  am  about  to  write,  and  which  have  had 

B2 


18  PREFACE. 

such  a  singular  influence  in  producing  the  present 
unhappy  condition  of  the  country.  The  following 
pages  will  show,  that  with  all  our  bragging  about 
the  principles  of  our  republican  government,  our 
government  has  no  principles  at  all ;  and  that  one 
little  man,  without  talents,  and  what  is  worse,  with 
out  honesty,  backed  by  office-holders,  using  the 
power  and  the  money  of  the  government ;  who  is 
a  federalist  to-day,  a  republican  to-morrow,  and  a 
hypocrite  always ;  yet  such  a  man  can  have  the 
huzzas  of  the  multitude  splitting  the  air  at  every 
court-house  in  the  nation.  He  may  be  against 
internal  improvements  out  of  New  York,  and  yet 
get  the  West,  that  can  alone  live  by  it.  He  may 
be  in  favour  of  the  tariff,  and  yet  get  Maine  and 
New  Hampshire,  that  have  always  gone,  or  pre 
tended  to  go,  their  death  against  it.  He  may  be 
against  the  bank,  and  yet  get  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  and  New  Jersey,  that  want  it  more,  and  are 
more  benefited  by  it,  than  any  states  in  the  Union. 
But  what  is  worse  than  all,  he  may  be  for  internal 
improvement  in  his  own  great  state,  for  the  tariff, 
for  a  bank  in  New  York,  for  abolition,  and  yet  get 
the  whole  South,  (with  the  exception  of  our  gallant 
little  state,)  Virginia. at  their  head,  that  has  made 
so  much  fuss  about  state  rights,  strict  construction, 
state  sovereignty;  and  broke  down  one  adminis- 


PREFACE.  ig 

tration  by  her  uproar,  and  now  is  about  to  build  up 
another  precisely  upon  the  same  doctrines.  Can  a 
government  have  principles  that  has  so  little  solid 
conduct  as  this ;  that  has  two  ways  for  every  thing 
it  does,  and  both  those  ways  exactly  opposite  ? 

The  life  of  Van  Buren,  if  it  receives  the  consi 
deration  it  deserves,  if  the  people  will  give  it  the 
close  thinking  it  needs,  will  be  the  most  useful 
lesson  they  have  ever  read  since  they  began  the 
A,  B,  C  of  our  government.  They  will  see  what 
great  things  come  from  little  ones ;  they  will  see 
how  parties  are  formed  and  carried  through  the 
manual  exercise  among  the  treasury-chests ;  the 
wheelings  and  turnings,  in  and  out  of  office ;  the 
marchings  and  counter-marchings,  to  secure  the 
high  places ;  the  forming  and  displaying  column,  to 
surround  and  protect  the  baggage  icagons.  They 
will  see  that  one  set  of  principles  last  no  longer 
than  to  serve  a  purpose  ;  and  that  their  dead  oppo 
site  will  be  taken  up,  in  broad  daylight,  to  put 
down  the  first :  and  people  will  hold  up  their  heads 
under  such  barefaced  inconsistency,  not  only  with 
out  a  wry  face,  but  without  as  much  red  on  their 
cheeks  as  there  is  blood  in  a  turnip. 

Many  persons  will  take  up  this  book  with  an 
expectation  that  they  will  be  very  much  amused 
at  my  odd  expressions,  and  hope  to  find  a  number 


THE   LIFE 


OF 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN 


THE  greatest  thing  in  creation  is  curiosity.  We 
are  taught  that  it  damned  a  world.  And  if  the 
"  Gin'ral,"  and  Black  Hawk,  and  ME  were  to  tra 
vel  through  the  United  States,  we  would  bring 
out,  no  matter  what  kind  of  weather,  more  people 
to  see  us  than  any  other  three  persons  out  of  fif 
teen  millions  of  souls  now  living  in  the  United 
States.  And  what  would  it  be  for  ?  As  I  am  one 
of  the  persons  mentioned,  I  believe  I  won't  push 
this  question  any  further.  What  I  am  driving  at 
is  this  :  when  a  man  rises  from  a  low  degree,  and 
gets  into  a  rank  that  he  ain't  use  to,  far  above  his 
old  neighbours, — whether  he  rises  by  his  talents  or 
his  tricks,  his  decency  or  his  deceit, — such  a  man 
starts  the  curiosity  of  the  world  to  know  how  he 
.as  got  along,  more  than  any  other  character  in 

23 


THE   LIFE 


OF 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 


THE  greatest  thing  in  creation  is  curiosity.  We 
are  taught  that  it  damned  a  world.  And  if  the 
"  Gin'ral,"  and  Black  Hawk,  and  ME  were  to  tra 
vel  through  the  United  States,  we  would  bring 
out,  no  matter  what  kind  of  weather,  more  people 
to  see  us  than  any  other  three  persons  out  of  fif 
teen  millions  of  souls  now  living  in  the  United 
States.  And  what  would  it  be  for  ?  As  I  am  one 
of  the  persons  mentioned,  I  believe  I  won't  push 
this  question  any  further.  What  I  am  driving  at 
is  this  :  when  a  man  rises  from  a  low  degree,  and 
gets  into  a  rank  that  he  ain't  use  to,  far  above  his 
old  neighbours, — whether  he  rises  by  his  talents  or 
his  tricks,  his  decency  or  his  deceit, — such  a  man 
starts  the  curiosity  of  the  world  to  know  how  he 
:.as  got  along,  more  than  any  other  character  in 

23 


24  THE   LIFE    OF 

all  nature.  Now  I  need  not  go  any  further  for  an 
example  than  to  'ME  and  Mr.  Van  Buren ;  we  both 
come  from  nothing;  and  we  both  prove  that  if 
the  people  were  as  cute  as  they  are  curious,  they 
wouldn't  find  so  much  to  admire  in  us  as  the  fuss 
they  make  about  us  would  seem  to  justify.  There 
is  this  much,  however,  can  be  said  in  our  favour, 
if  there  is  nothing  to  boast  of ;  it  isn't  our  fault  if 
the  people  make  themselves  fools  about  us ;  the 
more  they  honour  us,  the  more  ridiculous  they 
make  themselves.  The  folly  and  mischief  which 
curiosity  produces  is  not  so  criminal  as  that  of 
malice,  but  it  is  equally  fatal.  We  have  had  one 
president  put  upon  us  because  he  made  himself  a 
subject  of  curiosity,  from  one  fortunate  battle. :  and 
this  remark  will  not  be  thought  envious,  if  any  one 
will  take  the  trouble  to  ask  and  answer  to  himself 
this  question :  Would  he,  from  either  his  talents 
or  former  course  of  life,  have  ever  been  thought 
of  for  president,  but  for  the  victory  of  New  Or 
leans  ?  Would  I  ever  have  been  spoken  of  for  the 
same  high  office,  but  for  my  fighting  under  this 
same  great  "  Gin'ral,"  which  so  raised  my  popu 
larity,  it  threw  a  bear  hunter  from  the  swamps 
of  the  forest  into  a  hair-bottom  chair,  in  the  halls 
of  Congress.'  And  great  as  this  change  might 
seem  to  be,  General  Jackson  will  tell  you  it  was 


MARTIN  VAX  BUREN.  25 

no  greater  than  his,  or  as  little  expected  or  de 
served.  I,  too,  have  been  nominated  for  presi 
dent,  and  with  as  much  seriousness  as  Van  Buren 
was  at  first ;  for  everybody  recollects  what  a  laugh 
was  set  up  everywhere,  but  more  especially  in 
Georgia,  when  Van,  by  Mr.  Crawford's  influence, 
was  only  nominated  for  vice-president.  The  party 
opposed  to  Mr.  Crawford  in  that  state — I  think 
they  called  them  the  Clark  party — made  all  the 
game  they  could  at  it.  They  used  to  vote  for  him 
for  doorkeeper  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  call 
him  on  their  tickets  "  Whiskey  Van ;"  and  now 
this  same  party  goes  for  him  for  president ! ! 

I  mention  these  things  to  show  what  curiosity 
will  do,  and  that  if  accident  or  any  thing  else  ever 
jostles  a  man  out  of  the  path  nature  put  him  in, 
from  that  moment  the  crowd  rushes  round  him, 
like  a  fight  in  a  court-yard,  and  they  never  quit 
him  till  they  make  a  great  man  of  him ^  and  a  fool 
of  themselves.  Such  will  be  found  to  be  the  case 
of  Martin  Van  Buren,  whose  life  and  character  I 
am  now  about  to  give. 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN  was  born  in  the  year  17S1, 

at  KINDERHOOK,  on  the  banks  of  the  far-famed 

Hudson,  the  river  of  steamboats  and  high  banks, 

in  the  state  of  New  York.    He  is  about  fifty-three 

C 


26  THE    LIFE    OF 

years  old  ;  and  notwithstanding  his  baldness,  which 
reaches  all  round  and  over  half  down  his  head,  like 
a  white  pitch  plaster,  leaving  a  few  white  floating 
locks,  he  is  only  three  years  older  than  I  am.  His 
face  is  a  good  deal  shrivelled,  and  he  looks  sorry,  not 
for  any  thing  he  has  gained,  hut  what  he  may  lose. 
This,  perhaps,  is  owing  to  the  chase  in  which  he 
is  now  and  long  has  been  engaged.  The  cursjof 
the  bank,  and  the  office-hunting  hounds  of  oppo 
sition,  keep  constantly  on  the  scent  of  him,  and 
though  he  doubles  in  one  place,  and  tacks  back 
in  another,  which  occasionally  throws  them  off  the 
track,  yet  the  old  hunters  fully  understand  him, 
and  soon  get  into  full  cry  again. 

There  is  a  curious  likeness  in  the  life  and  pre 
sent  standing  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  me ;  and  oui 
case  must  hold  out  encouraging  hopes  to  all  sorts 
of  people ;  for,  after  our  good  luck  and  that  of  the 
'•  Gin'ral's,"  nobody  need  doubt  the  ignorance  of 
mankind,  or  the  ease  with  which  they  can  be 
duped. 

Mr.  Van  Buren's  parents  were  humble,  plain, 
and  not  much  troubled  with  book  knowledge ;  and 
so  were  mine.  His  father  hung  out  his  sign  on  a 
post,  with  a  daub  on  it,  intended  for  a  horse,  and 
with  the  words  "  entertainment  for  man  and 
horse;"  so  did  mine :  for  both  kept  little  village 


MARTIN  VAN   BUKEN.  37 

taverns.  He  has  become  a  great  man  without  any 
good  reason  for  it ;  and  so  have  I.  He  has  been 
nominated  for  president  without  the  least  preten 
sions  ;  and  so  have  I.  But  here  the  similarity 
stops :  from  his  cradle  he  was  of  the  non-commit 
tal  tribe ;  I  never  was.  He  had  always  two  ways 
to  do  a  thing ;  I  never  had  but  one.  He  was  gene 
rally  half  bent ;  I  tried  to  be  as  straight  as  a  gun- 
barrel.  He  couldn't  bear  his  rise  ;  I  never  minded 
mine.  He  forgot  all  his  old  associates  because  they 
were  poor  folks ;  I  stuck  to  the  people  that  made 
me.  I  would  not  have  mentioned  his  origin,  be 
cause  I  like  to  see  people  rise  from  nothing ;  but 
when  they  try  to  hide  it,  I  think  it  ought  to  be 
thrown  up  to  them ;  for  a  man  that  hasn't  soul 
enough  to  own  the  friends  that  have  started  him, 
and  to  acknowledge  the  means  by  which  he  has 
climbed  into  notice,  ought  once-in-a-while  to  be 
reminded  of  the  mire  in  which  he  used  to  wallow; 
and  I  shall  take  occasion  hereafter  to  speak  of  the 
style  in  which  he  now  moves. 

He  has  no  pedigree  that  I  can  trace  back  farther 
than  his  sire.  During  the  war  of  the  revolution, 
his  father  was  considered  on  the  Wliig  side,  while 
his  uncle,  his  father's  brother,  was  a  Tory,  and  it 
was  said,  occasionally  aided,  as  a  guide  to  British 
scouting  parties.  I  state  this  fact  merely  to  show 


28  THE   LIFE    OF 

the  breed.  As  my  friend  Colonel  Benton  wouM 
say,  this  breed  has  always  two  hooks  hung  out,  on 
one  or  the  other  of  which  they  are  likely  to  catch 
something,  in  beating  up,  or  in  drifting  down. 
I  rather  think,  by  way  of  reflection,  that  whoever 
gets  hung  on  one  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  hooks  will 
be  as  sick  of  it  as  senator  Benton  declared  he  was 
of  the  hook  on  which  Mr.  Webster  hung  him  up 
in  June  last. 

Neither  Mr.  Van  Buren  nor  me  had  much  edu 
cation  ;  but  he  is  none  the  worse  for  that,  if  he 
don't  pretend  to  more  than  he  knows.  A  man 
should  never  brag  of  his  knowledge ;  and  there 
fore  I  always  let  my  writings,  and  speeches,  and 
sayings  do  that  for  me,  without  ever  hinting  at 
such  a  thing.  Self-educated  men,  that  make  a 
figure  in  the  world,  like  what  Mr.  Van  Buren  and 
me  have  done,  ought  to  have  a  great  share  of 
modesty;  and  consequently,  I  have  declined  two 
nominations  for  president  But  Mr.  Van  Buren 
ain't  proof  against  these  dazzling  shines  held  out 
to  him  ;  he  lacks  diffidence.  He  stands  well  with 
himself,  and  Chinks  if  he  ain't  fit  for  the  office,  he 
can  make  the  people  believe  he  is. 

The  world  is  generally  curious  to  know,  when 
they  read  the  life  of  a  great  man,  what  kind  of  a 
boy  he  was ;  whether  he  gave  early  signs  of  what 


MARTIN  VAN   EL'KEX.  29 

he  has  turned- out  to  be.  About  this  there  are 
many  rumours ;  but  as  I  do  not  wish  to  deal  in  the 
marvellous,  my  readers  must  excuse  me  if  I  de 
cline  giving  any  of  the  prodigies  of  my  hero  in 
his  youth,  especially  as  authentic.  I  do  not  wish 
to  risk  the  credibility  of  my  narrative,  by  relating 
any  of  these  wonders  as  true.  For  instance,  it  is 
said  that  at  a  year  old  he  could  laugh  on  one  side 
of  his  face  and  cry  on  the  other,  at  one  and  the 
same  time;  and  so  by  his  eating,  after  he  was 
weaned,  he  could  chew  his  bread  and  meat  sepa 
rately  on  the  opposite  sides  of  his  mouth ;  plainly 
showing,  as  all  the  old  women  said,  that  he  had  a 
turn  for  any  thing.  While  at  school,  he  was  re 
markable  for  his  aptness  ;  and  it  is  said — but  I  do 
not  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  report — that  at  six 
years  old  he  could  actually  tell  when  his  book  was 
wrong  end  upwards ;  and  at  twelve,  he  could  read 
it  just  as  well  up-side-down  as  rig  hi -side-up,  and 
that  he  practised  it  both  ways,  to  acquire  a  shift 
ing  nack  for  business,  and  a  ready  turn  for  doing 
things  more  ways  than  one.  All  this,  however,  I 
give  as  mere  rumour,  not  doubting,  as  in  the  case 
of  most  great  men,  these  wonderful  exploits  in 
boyhood  are  manufactured  to  meet  their  fame 
when  they  become  great:  and  I  now  specially 
c  2 


30  THE   LIFE    OF 

inform  the  public  that  there  was  nothing  remark 
able  in  me  throughout  all  my  youth. 

What  little  education  Mr.  Van  Buren  got,  he 
got  it  honestly,  and  always  behaved  himself  with 
great  propriety,  never  being  accused  of  taking  any 
thing  secretly  from  his  school-mates.  While  others 
were  breaking  open  trunks,  and  stealing  their  com 
rades'  money,  nothing  of  that  kind  was  ever  brought 
to  his  charge  ;  so  that  whatever  other  faults  he  may 
have,  no  such  thing  as  this  can  be  flung  up  to  him 
at  this  day;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  there  never  will 
be  a  candidate  for  the  high  office  of  president, 
against  whom  such  a  slur  can  be  brought,  for  it  is 
an  old  saying,  that  "  what  is  bred  in  the  bone  is 
hard  to  come  out  of  the  flesh." 

Mr.  Van  Buren  became  a  politician  at  an  early 
period  of  his  life,  and  has  pushed  it  as  a  trade, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  present  hour ;  and  no 
man  has  done  a  better  business.  He  has  met  with 
as  few  losses  and  bad  debts  in  his  dealings,  as  any 
adventurer  that  ever  commenced  bartering ;  but 
he  never  believed  in  the  doctrine  "  that  honesty 
was  the  best  policy,"  and  now  thinks  the  maxim 
entirely  falsified  in  his  success.  To  his  notion-, 
principle  had  nothing  to  do  with  traffic  of  any 
kind  j  and  he  is  astonished  when  any  person  talks 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  3J 

to  him  of  the  impropriety  of  two  prices  to  things, 
of  two  kinds  of  weights  and  measures,  of  altering 
the  quality  of  articles,  and  shifting  their  places,  if 
necessary,  as  often  as  a  man's  interest  may  dictate. 
His  rule  is,  as  there  is  no  "  friendship  in  trade," 
so  there  is  none  in  politics. 

Until  the  year  1812,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  not 
elected  to  any  office,  though  he  was  always  a 
seeker,  holding  some  petty  place  in  the  county, 
from  which  he  kept  a  constant  look-out.  There  is 
another  difference  between  us  here: — While  he  was 
a  hunter  of  bread  through  an  office,  I  was  a  hunter 
of  bears  through  the  woods  :  while  he  was  nosing 
his  game  among  the  grog-shops  in  the  town,  I  was 
scenting  (to  borrow  an  idea  from  a  poet)  the  wild 
deer  on  the  sunny  hills  of  the  woodlands;  and  I 
have  now  the  comfort  to  believe,  if  it  has  turned 
me  out  less  fame,  it  has  taken  nothing  from  my 
honesty. 

A  pleasant  anecdote  is  related  of  him  when  he 
was  quite  young.  It  is  truly  like  him,  and  planted 
the  principle  upon  which  he  has  acted  ever  since. 
A  warmly-contested  election  was  coming  on,  and 
the  friends  on  both  sides,  being  men  of  influence, 
used  great  exertions,  and  became  much  excited  ; 
our  hero  applied  to  quite  a  knowing  politician  for 
his  opinion  as  to  the  result.  The  answer  express- 


32  THE   LIFE   OF 

ing  much  doubt,  yowig  Martin,  casting  his  eyes 
wishfully  towards  the  ground,  said,  "  I  do  wish  I 
knew  which  party  would  succeed,  as  I  want  to 
take  a  side,  but  don't  like  to  be  in  the  minority." 

He  studied  politics  in  the  school  of  a  Mr.  Rial, 
a  tobacconist.  This  man  lived  in  the  same  town 
with  Van  Buren,  and  generally  took  him  along,, 
when  he  went  to  Coxackie,  a  small  village  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  to  electioneer.  Rial  was 
a  great  bottle  orator,  but  not  the  man  for  making 
set,  or  rather  Congress  speeches.  He  has  now  re 
moved  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  there  employs 
himself  in  the  evening,  at  some  porter-house,  re 
lating  the  precepts  he  inculcated  upon  young  Van. 
The  scholar  is  said  to  be  altogether  worthy  of  the 
master.  There  is  no  doubt  Rial  did  much  for  Van, 
but  says  he  was  always  a  slippery  fellow. 

In  April,  1812,  Van  Buren  was  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  senate  of  the  state  legislature  of  New 
York. 

During  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1811  (and  as  I 
am  now  going  into  facts,  I  wish  the  reader's  par 
ticular  attention  to  dates,  and  defy  all  contradiction 
of  my  statements)  the  question  of  war  and  no  war 
with  Great  Britain  was  talked  of  throughout  the 
whole  country.  The  British  party  denounced,  in 
terms  the  most  implacable,  the  friends  of  war; 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  33 

they  were  particularly  furious  and  malicious  against 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison,  as  the  prime  movers 
of  the  quarrel  with  Great  Britain. 

In  March,  1813,  Mr.  Madison's  time  of  service 
as  president  would  expire ;  and  in  November, 
1812,  electors  of  president  and  vice-president  were 
to  be  chosen. 

In  the  winter  of  1811  and  the  spring  of  IS  12 
the  British  party,  uniting  with  certain  leaders  who 
claimed  to  belong  to  the  democratic  party,  became 
so  strong  that  serious  fears  were  entertained  by 
Mr.  Madison's  friends  that  he  would  be  defeated 
in  New  York.  It  was  at  this  time,  April,  1812, 
that  Van  Buren  was  elected  a  senator.  He  was 
known  to  have  no  fixed  principles ;  and  young  as 
he  was  in  politics,  he  had  already  given  signs  that 
though  he  might  be  straight,  yet  he  was  none  the 
worse  for  being  watched  ;  and  under  this  not  very 
creditable  notion,  the  democratic  or  Madisonian 
party  elected  him,  believing  he  would  act  with 
them  and  sustain  their  measures. 

During  the  summer  of  1812,  the  federal,  or  peace 
party  did  every  thing  in  their  power  to  destroy 
the  popularity  of  Mr.  Madison,  and  to  prevent  his 
election,  on  account  of  his  having  recommended 
the  war. 

In  June  of  that  year,  as  everybody  recollects, 


34  THE  LIFE  Os- 

war  was  declared,  and  Mr.  De  Witt  Clinton,  from 
a  nomination  just  made  before,  became  the  can 
didate  of  the  federal  party,  in  opposition  to  Mr. 
Madison.  He  was  nominated  at  a  caucus  (the 
famous  method  of  managing  things  in  New  York, 
and  which  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  the  New  York 
Regency  are  trying,  by  a  Baltimore  convention, 
to  fix  down  upon  the  federal  government,  to  serve 
the  future  purposes  of  the  great  Empire  State)  in 
Albany,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1812.  Mr.  Madison 
was  the  regularly  nominated  candidate  of  the  demo 
cratic  or  war  party,  as  the  federalists  called  them, 
by  a  congressional  caucus,  which,  notwithstanding 
General  Jackson  thinks  it  is  the  "true  policy," 
has  been  properly  put  down  by  the  good  sense  of 
the  people,  because  there  is  but  one  way  to  choose 
the  president,  and  that  is  pointed  out  in  the  con 
stitution.  Mr.  Van  Buren  opposed  this  nomina 
tion,  as  I  will  clearly  show,  though  he  now  thinks 
one  at  Baltimore  will  be  right. 

Immediately  after  the  declaration  of  war  in 
June,  the  federal  party  in  Van  Buren's  county,  by 
his  special  recommendation  and  personal  contri 
vance,  held  a  meeting.  James  A.  Hamilton,  the 
intimate  friend  and  counsellor  of  Van  Buren  at 
that  time — and,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  the 
same  down  to  the  present  day,  with  the  additional 


MARTIN  VAN   BLREX.  35 

character  of  being  a  secret  and  confidential  instru 
ment  in  some  of  his  master  strokes  of  conjuration — 
took  a  full-team  part  in  that  meeting,  and  managed 
it  altogether  up  to  his  directions. 

On  the  Sth  of  July  (mark  the  dates)  the  fede 
ralists  published  their  address  and  resolutions. 
They  were  signed  by  the  aforesaid  Hamilton,  and 
others  of  his  and  Van  Buren's  creed  of  politics. 
The  following  is  one  of  their  resolutions  : 

"JResolved,  that  the  war  is  impolitic,  unneces 
sary,  and  disastrous;  and  that  to  employ  the 
militia  in  an  offensive  war  (that  is,  to  enter  Cana 
da)  is  unconstitutional."  Such  were  the  doctrines 
of  the  Van  Buren  party  in  those  days ;  and  yet, 
this  man  and  his  followers,  afterwards,  had  the 
hardihood  to  assail  Mr.  Clinton  and  others  as  fede 
ralists  and  opponents  of  the  wrar.  Though  this 
meeting  was  got  up  by  Van  Buren  for  the  secret 
purpose  of  promoting  Mr.  Clinton's,  and  defeating 
Mr.  Madison's  prospects  as  to  the  presidency;  and 
the  inexpediency  of  the  war,  as  it  was  hoped,  was 
artfully  selected  to  play  upon  the  prejudices  of  the 
peace-loving  people,  to  serve  that  infamous  pur 
pose  ;  yet  at  a  future  day  it  was  found  entirely  con 
venient  to  forge  all  this,  ai\d  brand  Mr.  Clinton  as 
an  enemy  of  Mr.  Madison  and  the  war.  Don't 
this  look  a  little  like  a  magician  ? 


36  THE   LIFE    OF 

During  the  summer  of  1812,  the  Van  Bur  en 
papers — and  mind,  I  do  not  mean  the  open  and 
acknowledged  federal  papers,  for  there  was  a  clear 
difference  between  them,  and  so  known  and  con 
fessed  at  the  time — continued  to  attack  the  war 
party  with  great  violence.  Let  the  reader  bear  in 
mind,  the  electors  were  to  be  chosen  in  the  fall  of 
this  year ;  and  then  let  him  listen  to  the  following 
extracts  from  the  same  Van  Buren  papers,  which, 
if  any  one  shall  dare  to  deny,  they  shall  be  pro 
duced. 

August,  1812.  "An  administration  which  enters 
into  war  without  revenue,  without  preparation,  and 
without  plan  ;  or  with  preparation  worse  than 
none,  pursues  a  miserable  course,"  &c. 

October,  1812.  "Madison  has  begot  war;  war 
begets  debts  ;  debts  begets  taxes ;  taxes  begets 
bankruptcy,"  &c. 

"  Clinton  will  beget  peace  ;  peace  begets  riches 
and  property;  property  begets  harmony,"  &c. 

These  extracts  fully  show  the  ground  upon 
which  Mr.  Van  Buren  opposed  the  re-election  of 
Mr.  Madison,  and  supported  Mr.  Clinton  ;  and  I 
want  it  to  be  constantly  recollected,  tltlat  in  the 
beginning,  no  man  was  more  opposed  to  the  war, 
notwithstanding  my  friend  Mr.  Benton  made  such 
a  monstrous  fuss  in  his  letter  to  the  convention,  in 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  37 

the  state  of  Mississippi,  that  nominated  him  for 
vice-president,  about  Van  Buren's  support  of  the 
war,  saying  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  good 
people  of  Washington  city  found  out  which  was 
the  greatest  exploit,  Van  Buren's  war  speech  or 
General  Jackson's  victory  at  Orleans.  We  shall 
see  by-and-by  how  this  little  gentleman,  according 
to  his  custom,  twisted  round  to  the  war  point,  and 
how  (as  Mr.  Benton  wishes  to  know)  he  got  the 
name  of  "  magician."  If  I  understand  what  a 
magician  is,  it  is  one  who  does  things  in  a  secret 
manner,  as  if  done  by  spirits,  and  so  cunningly 
that  human  observation  can't  detect  the  conjura 
tion.  Now,  no  wonder  Mr.  Benton  and  Tom 
Ritchie  asks  to  show  what  he  has  done  that  entitles 
him  to  the  name  of  the  "  little  magician ;"  they 
believing  that  he  has  done  his  tricks  like  a  show- 
master,  so  well  that  they  cannot  be  discovered. 
But  I  will  show,  before  I  am  done,  how  he  has 
performed  his  "presto — change  and  begone;" 
and  request  the  reader  to  keep  a  look-out  from 
this  time  forward,  for  he  doubtless  begins  to  see 
already  all  the  parade,  the  shuffle,  trick,  and  turn 
over  of  a  juggler. 

As  dates  are  very  important  to  the  right  under 
standing  of  the  crooked  meanderings  of  our  little 
politician,  I  must  beg  leave  to  repeat  one  or  two 
D 


38  THE   LIFE   OF 

facts  already  mentioned.  It  was  on  the  22d  of 
May,  1812,  Mr.  Madison  was  nominated  by  the 
democratic  party,  in  a  congressional  caucus — the 
best  kind  of  convention,  if  conventions  could  be 
tolerated  at  all ;  for,  being  the  immediate  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people  for  other  objects  as  dear  to 
them  as  that  of  appointing  a  president,  and  answer 
able,  at  the  risk  of  their  office,  for  their  conduct, 
they  would  more  truly  represent,  not  only  the 
people,  but  the  party  to  which  they  belonged.  As 
soon  as  this  fact  reached  Albany,  Van  Buren  had 
a  call  of  the  Regency,  and  a  caucus  was  held,  as 
before  stated,  on  the  29th  of  May,  only  seven  days 
after  Mr.  Madison's  nomination ;  and  Mr.  Clinton 
was  then  and  there  nominated— Mr.  Van  Buren 
being  then  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  and  elected 
in  the  month  of  April  just  preceding. 

On  the  3d  of  November  following,  an  extra  ses 
sion  of  the  legislature  was  called  at  Albany,  for  the 
purpose  of  choosing  presidential  electors.  At  the 
same  time  Governor  Tompkins  announced  in  his 
opening  message,  that  war  had  been  declared 
against  Great  Britain  in  the  preceding  June.  This 
message  was  calculated,  of  course,  to  call  forth  all 
the  fight,  if  there  was  any,  in  the  people,  and  the 
strongest  feelings  of  regard  for  the  spot  where  they 
and  their  children  lived  and  prospered,  and  it 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  39 

might  have  been  supposed  would  have  called  forth 
loudly  from  the  legislature  a  warm  and  united 
pledge  of  support  to  the  general  government,  dur 
ing  the  perils  and  trials  that  lay  along  the  path  of 
a  raging  and  still  thickening  war. 

In  those  days  it  was  the  practice  of  the  re 
spective  branches  of  the  legislature  to  refer  the 
governor's  message  to  a  committee,  to  report  a 
suitable  answer  to  his  communication.  On  the 
part  of  the  senate,  Messrs.  Wilkins,  Van  Buren, 
and  one  other,  were  appointed  to  draft  the  answer. 
It  contains  not  one  sentence  approving  of  the  war, 
nor  of  the  administration;  nor  any  pledge  to  sus 
tain  the  government ;  nor  any  language  condemn 
ing  the  conduct  of  that  nation  which  had  robbed 
our  commerce,  impressed  our  seamen,  made  cap 
tives  of  our  people  on  the  high  seas,  and  was  then 
waging  a  merciless  warfare  upon  our  defenceless 
women  and  children  on  the  frontiers,  through  their 
savage  allies.  Not  the  slightest  mention  or  refer 
ence  was  made  to  these  topics,  in  the  reply  to  the 
governor — a  reply  well  known  to  have  been  drafted 
by  Mr.  Van  Buren  himself.  It  was  all  non-com 
mittal  on  these  points.  The  few  remarks  that 
were  made  on  the  subject  of  the  war,  and  the  aggra 
vating  causes  which  produced  it,  are  cold  and 
neartless,  and  evidently  show,  by  such  studied 


40  THE   LIFE   OF 

caution  and  reserve,  or  rather  sulky  mode  of  ex 
pression,  that  it  was  not  acceptable  to  them ;  and 
they  could  not  better  have  conveyed  that  idea,  if 
they  had  come  out  in  a  bold,  manly,  and  right- 
down  confession  of  the  fact.  The  following  is  the 
language,  and  all  that  was  said  on  that  point  by 
Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  colleagues  : 

"  The  senate  fully  concur  with  your  excellency 
in  the  sentiment,  that  at  a  period  like  the  present, 
when  our  country  is  engaged  in  a  war  with  one  of 
the  most  powerful  nations  of  Europe,  difference  of 
opinion  on  abstract  points  should  not  be  suffered 
to  impede  or  prevent  our  united  and  vigorous  sup 
port  of  the  constituted  authority  of  the  nation." 

The  careful  reader  will  surely  notice  that  this 
took  place  only  four  months  after  the  declaration 
of  war,  and  just  before  the  election  for  president. 
Such,  as  before  stated,  was  the  uproar  and  noise 
made  by  the  federalists,  or  peace  party,  in  the  great 
state  of  New  York,  leagued  as  they  were  with  some 
of  the  pretended  democrats,  Van  Buren  at  their 
head,  against  the  war  and  against  Mr.  Madison,  for 
the  purpose  of  electing  Mr.  Clinton,  that  it  was 
confidently  expected  the  war  would  become  un 
popular,  nay,  odious  to  the  people,  and  that  Madi- 
gon  would  be  beaten  all  hollow,  and  lose  the  state 
of  New  York  out  of  sight.  This  accomplished. 


MARTIN  \A?s   BUREN.  41 

Van  Buren's  fortune  would  be  made  right  off, 
under  Clinton.  In  and  through  Clinton,  this  little 
arch  politician  expected  at  once  to  rise  into  high 
office.  And  observe  well  his  sly  and  cautious  man 
ner  in  steering  his  course  through  the  all-exciting 
events,  not  only  of  a  presidential  election,  but  of  a 
war.  As  little  as  he  had  said  on  either  subject 
himself,  that  little  was  liable  to  two  faces,  and  had 
a  double  tongue ;  notice  the  extract  above  given, 
about  the  war.  But  his  principal  plan  of  operating 
was  by  his  friends  and  his  presses ;  these  gave  Mr. 
Clinton  and  his  friends  all  the  assurance  he  wanted, 
that  Van  was  secretly  at  work  for  him ;  and  if 
Clinton  had  been  elected,  it  would  have  been  under 
the  full  belief  that  Van  Buren  was  his  active  sup 
porter. 

But  mark  the  issue :  in  the  same  month  of  the 
address  above  mentioned,  the  election  for  president 
took  place  :  Mr.  Madison  was  elected  a  second 
time,  to  commence  on  the  4th  of  March,  1813; 
the  war,  notwithstanding  the  violent  opposition  it 
met  with  in  the  north,  became  popular;  the  re 
publican  party,  then  in  power,  were  determined  to 
support  Mr.  Madison  and  his  war ;  the  whole  face 
of  things  were  changed ;  the  miserable  intrigues 
of  New  York — a  state  famous  for  them,  from  that 
day  down — being  totally  routed,  behold,  the  little 
D  2 


42  THE  LIFE   OF 

magician  tacked  about,  and  very  shortly  thereafter 
gave  indications  of  his  intention  to  abandon  his 
co-partnership  with  the  federalists,  or  peace  party, 
and  to  join  the  war  or  democratic  party.  Accord 
ingly,  in  1814,  he  was  again,  by  his  own  procure 
ment,  placed  on  the  committee  to  draft  an  answer 
to  the  governor's  message  of  that  year.  Now  com 
pare  his  tone  and  language  with  that  which  he  used 
in  1812,  and  which  has  already  been  quoted. 

In  answer  to  Governor  Tompkins'  message  of 
1814,  he  says,  in  reference  to  Mr.  Madison — the 
very  man  he  had  opposed  to  favour  Mr.  Clinton, 
and  that,  too,  on  account  of  the  war — "  An  admi 
nistration  selected  for  its  wisdom  and  its  virtues, 
will,  in  our  opinion,  prosecute  the  war  till  our 
multiplied  wrongs  are  avenged,  and  our  rights 
secured." 

Does  the  reader  see  nothing  of  the  magician 
here  ?  Had  any  thing  taken  place  since  his  other 
address  in  1812,  that  showed  more  plainly  our 
"  multiplied  wrongs,"  or  that  our  "  rights"  were 
more  entitled  to  "security?"  What  made  Mr. 
Madison's  administration  less  wise  or  virtuous  in 
1812  than  it  was  in  1814  ?  I  can  tell  you  :  the 
loss  of  Mr.  Clinton's  election,  and  with  it  the  loss 
of  rising  to  power  through  that  hook.  He  saw,  to 
use  a  figure  drawn  from  my  own  calling,  that  he 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  43 

had  got  upon  the  wrong  scent,  the  game  had  gone 
out,  and  he  determined  to  blow  off  his  dogs  and 
quit  the  drive,  at  least  in  that  direction. 

I  repeat,  that  hereafter  it  will  be  proven,  beyond 
all  contradiction,  that "  this  administration,  selected 
for  its  wisdom  and  its  virtues"  succeeded  in  op 
position  to  Mr.  Van  Buren's  wishes,  votes,  and 
exertions.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  defeat  it. 
He  leagued  and  voted  with  the  federal  party  in 
support  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  against  one  of  Vir 
ginia's  favourite  sons,  James  Madison,  and  endea 
voured  to  destroy  his  fair  fame  and  his  administra 
tion,  wise  and  virtuous  as  it  was,  by  labouring  to 
render  the  war  odious  to  the  people — a  war  that 
Virginia  urged  on  and  supported  with  all  her 
might  and  main.  And  now  Tom  Ritchie  is  trying 
all  the  powers  of  his  pen  and  the  purse  of  the 
government  to  make  the  good  people  of  Virginia 
vote  for  this  same  little  man,  for  the  very  office 
of  \vhich  he  so  artfully  attempted  to  deprive  Mr. 
Madison — the  well-known  choice  of  the  republi 
can  party — and  impudently  asks,  what  has  Mr. 
VanBuren  done  to  deserve  the  name  of  the  "little 
magician  ?" 

But  this  is  not  all.  After  the  peace,  in  1816,  he 
was  for  the  third  and  last  time  put  upon  a  commit 
tee  to  draft  a  reply  to  the  governor's  message  :  and 


44  THE  LIFE   OF 

now  mark  again  his  language.  He  says,  "  The  war 
in  which  the  nation  has  been  involved,  was  not  only 
righteous  in  its  origin,  but  successful  in  its  pro 
secution/"'  Will  the  reader,  among  the  reflections 
that  must  naturally  come  into  his  mind  upon  read 
ing  this  little  politician's  pros  and  cons,  (and  I  am 
told  by  a  friend  that  these  words  mean  for  and 
against,}  merely  ask  himself  why  Mr.  Van  Buren's 
first  address,  in  1812,  just  before  he  abandoned  the 
federal  party,  could  not  have  said  that  "  the  war 
was  righteous  in  its  origin  ?"  Was  not  that  the 
trying  time  to  cheer  the  people  on  to  fight  for  their 
rights,  and  to  "avenge"  the  multiplied  wrongs 
of  a  desperate  foe  ?  Why  wait  till  the  war  was 
over  to  say  it  was  righteous  ?  Did  he  not  know 
what  a  powerful  opposition  was  made  to  the  war, 
and  Mr.  Madison,  on  account  of  it  ?  Why  did  he 
not,  upon  the  first  fair  opportunity  of  lending  his 
influence  and  his  aid  to  put  down  such  a  reckless 
opposition,  and  to  encourage  the  people  to  go  in 
for  their  country  and  its  rights,  come  out  boldly 
in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  unite  the  distracted 
and  disaffected  portions  of  the  Union,  by  making 
the  great  state  of  New  York  speak  as  it  ought,  and 
thereby  bring  about  a  speedy  termination  of  that 
war  ?  No,  all  that  could  then  be  said  was  a  milk- 
and-water,  half-and-half  sort  of  a  drench,  leaving 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  45 

it  doubtful  whether  the  water  was  first  poured  to 
the  milk  or  the  milk  to  the  water,  and  purposely 
designing  it  to  be  immaterial  which.  No,  no,  this 
open,  honest,  and  patriotic  language  did  not  sort 
with  the  views  of  the  party  to  which  he  then  be 
longed,  much  less  with  his  own  schemes.  Their 
object  was  to  bring  their  doctrines  into  play,  and 
to  recover  the  possession  of  the  government,  so 
unfortunately  (for  them)  lost  by  the  elder  Adams. 
His  object  was  to  defeat  Mr.  Madison,  and  to  come 
directly  into  power  with  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  did 
not  originally  belong  to  the  federal  party.  These 
folks  were  using  one  another,  not  for  a  common 
purpose,  but  for  totally  different  objects.  If  Clinton 
and  Van  Buren  had  succeeded,  the  federal  party 
wrould  have  been  none  the  better  for  it ;  for  as  soon 
as  these  persons  had  discovered  that  the  war  was 
popular  in  the  South  and  West,  and  especially  in 
their  own  state,  they  \vould  have  gone  in  for  it,  as 
Van  Buren  did  afterwards,  and  consequently  would 
have  left  the  federalists  in  the  lurch.  As  soon, 
however,  as  Van  Buren  became  recreant  and  false 
to  his  federal  associates,  he  began  to  prate  about 
our  "  multiplied  wrongs,"  and  a  war  that  was  even 
"righteous  in  its  origin" 

But  there  is  another  view  of  Van  Buren's  sup 
port  of  Clinton  that  marks,  in  the  most  wonderful 


46  THE   LIFE    OF 

manner,  his  deep  and  far-reaching  cunning.  In 
most  of  his  plots  he  has  a  double  purpose,  or,  as  my 
friend  Benton  would  say,  "  two  hooks ;"  and  in 
this  case  there  is  a  remarkable  instance.  We  have 
already  shown  one ;  if  Clinton  succeeded,  he  ex- 
peeled,  in  all  human  calculation,  to  go  with  him 
into  some  high  office  in  the  federal  government; 
but  if  he  failed,  which  many  supposed  he  greatly 
preferred,  it  would  destroy  his  popularity  in  New 
York  with  the  democratic  party,  break  him  down 
totally,  remove  him  out  of  Van  Buren's  way,  and 
then  he,  Van,  would  fling  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  party,  and  become  master  of  New  York  for  all 
future  purposes.  And  it  is  amazing  to  see  how  the 
plan  succeeded  !  From  that  hour  the  state  of  New 
York  may  be  said  to  have  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Van  Buren.  For  although  Clinton  retained,  by 
an  unforeseen  event  at  the  time,  (the  success  and 
his  persecution  on  account  of  his  canal  policy,)  the 
popularity  so  eminently  endangered,  and  certainly 
impaired  by  his  opposition  to  the  war  and  Mr. 
Madison,  yet  he,  nor  any  one  else,  was  ever  after 
able  to  counteract  the  start  which  the  well-timed 
summerset  of  Van  Buren  gave  him  on  that  unfortu 
nate  occasion.  It  was  the  lucky  path,  from  which 
he  never  could  be  diverted,  that  has  conducted  him 
to  his  present  proud  but  undeserved  fortunes, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  47 

We  will  return  now  to  the  prcof  of  our  hero's 
opposition  to  Mr.  Madison,  and  of  course,  to  the 
war ;  for,  as  we  shall  see,  he  acted  with  the  federal 
or  British  party,  and  they  ahv;ays  identified  the 
war  with  their  opposition  to  the  former. 

On  the  3d  of  November,  1812,  as  before  stated, 
the  legislature  of  New  York  met  at  Albany  to  ap 
point  electors  for  president  and  vice-president.  ID 
the  evening  of  the  4th,  a  caucus  of  the  member? 
was  held  in  the  senate-chamber,  to  nominate  can 
didates  for  electors.  .The  great  question  to  be 
debated  was,  "  Shall  the  electors  be  men  who  will 
support  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Madison,  the  true 
democratic  candidate  ;  or  shall  they  be  men  who 
will  support  the  candidate  of  the  federal  or  British 
party?"  Great  violence  prevailed  in  the  meeting. 
The  war,  thus  far,  had  been  unfortunate,  especially 
on  the  New  York  frontier.  The  federal  party  in 
that  state,  aided  by  the  New  England  junto,  and 
the  Clinton  and  Van  Buren  faction,  were  powerful. 
They  had  used  the  requisite  means  with  great 
liberality,  and  their  workings  had  told  well  upon 
the  ignorant  multitude  of  New  York,  who  never 
had  any  opinion  on  any  subject,  except  what  comes 
from  the  Regency  at  Albany.  The  political  waters 
being  in  great  commotion,  the  froth  naturally  come 
to  the  top,  and  this  gave  Van  Buren  a  chance  to 


48  THE   LIFE    OF 

float  upon  the  surface,  in  the  midst  of  the  scum. 
Nay,  he  contrived  to  lift  his  head  even  ahove  the 
thickest  of  the  drift,  and  became  a  leader  in  the 
federal  ranks.  Delighted  with  his  accidental  ele 
vation,  his  efforts  against  the  democracy  of  the 
state,  and  the  country  at  large,  was  keen  and  per 
petual. 

Red-hot  with  a  fiery  zeal  in  the  glorious  cause 
of  peace  and  federalism,  he  delivered  a  prepared 
and  studied, speech  against  southern  politicians  and 
southern  interests.  Of  Virginia,  the  birth-place  of 
Mr.  Madison,  and  now  the  hot-bed  of  Van  Buren- 
ism,  he  spoke  in  terms  of  mingled  ridicule  and  con 
tempt,  and  scorched  her  with  the  most  sneering 
sarcasms ;  so  that  he  has  made  the  old  dominion, 
the  land  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Mon 
roe,  Marshall,  and  a  host  of  the  biggest  men  that 
the  New  World  has  ever  produced,  fulfil  the 
old  Spanish  proverb,  that  the  more  you  kick  a 
spaniel,  the  lower  he  crouches.  Oh,  Virginia, 
Virginia !  well  may  the  South  mourn  over  your 
fallen  greatness ! 

He  drew  a  comparison  between  the  war  candi 
date  and  the  peace  candidate,  and  placed  Mr.  Madi 
son  only  among  the  second-rate  statesmen.    He  de 
nounced,  in  strong  terms,  the  policy  of  the  general ' 
government,  in  plunging  the  nation  into  war.    He 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  49 

declared  the  president  and  his  cabinet  unworthy 
the,  confidence  of  the  people.  These  facts  dare  not 
be  denied ;  and  I  pledge  myself,  if  they  are,  to  pro 
duce  living  witnesses  of  the  most  conclusive  credi 
bility  to  sustain  every  word  of  them.  I  invite 
contradiction ;  and  if  it  is  not  made,  I  claim  for 
the  statement  the  most  implicit  belief;  and  though 
it  may  not  affect  such  states  as  New  Hampshire 
and  Maine,  yet  it  shall  remain  an  everlasting  re 
proach  to  Virginia,  unless  she  renounces  Van  Bu- 
renism. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  was  replied  to  by  General  E. 
Root,  Nathan  Sanford,  and  others.  They  defended 
the  southern  statesmen  and  the  war ;  but  the  cau 
cus,  like  the  Baltimore  convention,  having  been 
drilled  and  stocked  for  the  occasion,  they  came  to 
a  resolution  that  no  man  should  be  nominated  as  an 
elector,  who  was  not  pledged  to  vote  for  the  fede 
ral  candidate  for  president ;  whereupon  General 
Root,  and  other  friends  of  Mr.  Madison  and  the 
war,  retired  from  the  body. 

On  the  9th  of  November  the  electors  were 
chosen  by  the  legislature,  each  member  voting 
viva  voce.  At  the  head  of  the  Madisonian  ticket 
was  Colonel  Hanry  Rutgers,  of  New  York.  Mr. 
Van  Buren  voted  against  Rutgers  and  his  col 
leagues,  lie  voted  the  entire  Clintonian  ticket, 
E 


50  THE    LIFE    OF 

and  it  prevailed,  to  the  unspeakable  joy  of  British 
influence  and  blue-light  federalism. 

The  speech  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  November, 
1812,  in  caucus,  upon  the  nomination,  and  his  vote 
in  senate,  on  the  choice  of  presidential  electors, 
places  beyond  all  doubt  his  hostility  to  the  war  and 
its  friends.  It  so  marks  his  political  character  at 
that  time,  that  there  is  no  getting  away  from  it. 
It  will  haunt  him  like  a  ghost.  War  had  raged 
from  the  preceding  June :  two  violent  parties,  and 
but  tivo,  existed  in  the  country — the  war  and 
peace  party,  or,  as  previously  called,  the  republi 
can  and  federal  party.  Mr.  Van  Buren  leagued, 
and  acted,  and  voted  with  the  latter,  in  opposition 
to  Mr.  Madison  ;  and  this,  too,  at  a  moment  when 
the  country  was  bleeding  at  every  pore,  and  the 
most  disastrous  events  seemed,  like  a  thunder 
cloud,  to  thicken  and  darken  upon  her.  His  vote 
stands  recorded  on  the  journals  of  the  senate  of 
New  York ;  and  if  there  is  any  man  who  doubts 
it,  let  him  signify  his  doubts  in  any  manner  he 
may  think  proper,  and  if  he  be  not  as  servile  as 
the  Albany  Argus,  as  senseless  as  the  Baltimore 
Republican,  as  scurrilous  as  the  Globe,  and .  as 
shameless  as  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  he  shall 
never  doubt  again  on  this  subject. 

After  the  federal  party  were  beaten  down  and 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  51 

became  wind-broken  by  the  success  of  Mr.  Madi 
son  ;  after  the  game-cock  spirit  of  the  nation  was 
raised,  their  neck-feathers  up  for  battle,  and  things 
began  to  look  like  death  and  thunder ;  after  it  was 
clearly  perceived  that  the  war  party  had  conquered 
in  the  presidential  combat,  and  were  marching  with 
the  same  glorious  resolution  to  equal  victory  in 
the  war,  Mr.  Van  Buren  suddenly  turned  pale,  and 
placing  more  confidence  in  his  heels  than  his  head, 
he  made  one  of  his  "presto,  change"  kind  of  sum 
mersets,  at  which  he  is  as  nimble  as  a  cat,  and  all- 
at-once  he  was  missing  from  the  federal,  but  in 
stantly  found — his  head  up,  eyes  to  the -right,  and 
face  to  the  front — in  the  republican  ranks ;  and 
there  he  stood,  as  bold  and  erect  as  if  he  had  been 
mustered  in  from  the  beginning  of  the  parade. 
Then,  too,  but  not  till  then,  he  shouted,  with  the 
new-born  zeal  of  a  turncoat,  about  "  our  multi 
plied  wrongs"  the  "righteousness  of  the  war" 
and  the  "  wisdom  and  virtue"  of  Mr.  Madison's 
administration  ;  which  administration  he  had  done 
every  thing  in  his  power  to  blacken  and  defame, 
probably  on  account  of  its  "virtue"  if  not  of  its 
"wisdom"  Does  the  candid  reader  longer  doubt 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  magical  powers  ? 

Having  united  with  M.  Clinton  in  opposition 
to  Mr.  Madison  and  the  war,   in    1812  ;   and  in 


52     ,  THE   LIFE    OF 

1813—14,  having  joined  the  war  party,  he  contj 
nued  with  them  until  about  the  year  1817,  when, 
for  selfish  but  temporary  purposes,  he  returned  to 
the  support  of  Mr.  Clinton  again. 

Being  accommodated  entirely  at  his  ease  in  his 
new  situation,  it  became  necessary  to  make  his  peace 
at  Washington,  believing  that  if  he  could  succeed 
in  that,  it  would  increase  his  influence  at  home.  As 
he  lay  watching  the  current  of  passing  events,  an 
opportunity,  as  he  thought,  calculated  to  answer 
his  purpose,  presented  itself.  In  September,  1814, 
the  legislature  of  New  York  was  convened,  and 
Governor  Tompkins,  in  his  opening  message,  re 
commended  the  organization  of  an  efficient  military 
force  of  something  like  twenty  thousand  men,  to 
be  employed  in  lieu  of  the  drafted  militia.  The 
subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of 
General  Root,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  Colonel  Stra- 
nahan.  On  the  5th  of  October  following,  General 
Root  reported  that  the  committee  could  not  agree, 
but  that  a  majority  of  them  authorized  him  to  re 
port  a  bill,  reserving  to  the  minority  the  right  to 
offer  a  substitute.  The  next  day  Mr.  Van  Buren 
presented  the  substitute,  and  both  bills  were  refer 
red  t®  the  same  committee  of  the  whole. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  has  been   called  a  state-rights 
man  ;  and  this  is  his  chief  merit  in  Virginia.    Now 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  53 

I  have  introduced  this  last  suhject  to  show  how  far 
he  deserves  such  a  character ;  and  I  particularly 
call  the  attention  of  his  Virginia  friends  to  this 
precious  part  of  his  political  life,  as  showing  his 
devotion  to  state  rights.  It  will  be  recollected, 
that  at  this  time  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  was  governor 
of  the  state  of  New  York ;  and  a  truer  patriot  never 
Jived  anywhere  than  was  this  same  D-aniel  D.  Tomp 
kins  ;  he  pledged  his  own  property,  and  advanced 
the  money  to  the  state  to  carry  on  the  war.  What 
ever  may  have  been  his  weaknesses  or  his  infirmi 
ties,  he  was  a  warmhearted  friend  and  champion 
of  the  war  from  its  beginning  to  the  end.  For 
this,  no  doubt,  Mr.  Van  Buren  detested  him,  and, 
what  is  worse,  longed  for  revenge  ;  permitting  his 
vindictive  feelings,  in  a  smothered  form,  to  rankle 
in  his  breast  until  an  opportunity  should  present 
itself  for  their  full  and  free  gratification.  At 
length,  such  an  opportunity  offered  as  induced 
Van  Buren  to  suppose  h*  could  wound  the  feel 
ings  of  Governor  Tompkins,  and  destroy  the  con 
fidence  between  him  and  some  of  his  most  cherished 
friends,  and  by  possibility,  create  an  impression  at 
Washington,  that  he,  Van  Buren,  was  so  devoted 
to  the  general  administration  that  he  would  wil 
lingly  wrest  from  the  governor  any  power  or 
influence  he  might  possess  in  his  own  state,  and 
E  2 


54  THE   LIFE    OF 

prostrate  it  at  the  feet  of  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  as  a  peace-offering  for  his  own.  infidelity. 
This  movement,  be  it  spoken  to  the  credit  of 
James  Madison,  produced  no  effect  upon  him, 
however  evident  it  was  so  intended. 

The  substitute  proposed  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  con 
tained  the  following  clause  :  "  That  the  troops  to  be 
raised  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  subject  to  the 
orders  of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies 
of  the  United  States." 

General  Root  reported  to  strike  out  this  clause, 
and  insert  the  following :  "  That  the  troops  to  be 
raised  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  under  the  com 
mand  of,  and  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  com 
mander-in-chief  of  the  state,  but  may  be  employed 
in  any  place  and  in  any  service  in  defence  of  the 
liberties  and  independence  of  this  state,  and  of  the 
United  States,  which  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  state  may  direct" 

This  amendment  Mr.  Van  Buren  opposed  with 
all  his  might,  and  it  was  finally  rejected.  By  this 
law,  the  command  of  the  state  troops  was  to  be 
taken  from  the  governor  of  the  state,  (a  well-known 
patriot,)  and  to  be  placed  under  the  control  of  the 
United  States  and  its  officers,  although  only  sub 
stitutes  for  the  state's  militia,  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  constitution,  which  gives  to  the  states 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  55 

the  right  to  officer  and  train  their  own  militia,  and 
to  defend  themselves  in  case  of  such  imminent 
danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  has  been  considered  by  some, 
particularly  Tom  Ritchie,  who  holds  himself  to  be 
the  standard  of  the  doctrine,  to  be  a  state-rights 
man.  How  far  he  is  entitled  to  that  character  by 
any  of  his  early  opinions,  let  his  doings  with  the 
federal  party  during  the  war,  and  his  support  of 
such  a  principle  as  that  contained  in  the  bill  above 
mentioned,  viz.  the  raising  a  corps  of  militia  by  a 
state,  to  be  placed  under  the  control  of  the  presi 
dent,  liable  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  defence  of 
the  state,  and  to  be  used  and  treated  with  all  the 
rigour  of  regular  troops,  be  duly  considered  before 
he  is  taken  into  full  communion,  and  elected  as 
their  president,  by  that  highminded  class  of 
southern  politicians. 

I  have  now  given  the  history  of  our  hero's  poli 
tical  life,  as  connected  with  two  great  events,  just 
after  he  commenced  his  career  as  a  public  man, 
to  wit,  the  election  of  a  president  and  the  war  with 
Great  Britain,  in  which,  it  must  be  very  plain  to 
the  reader,  he  pursued  a  very  wriggling  course, 
first  on  one  side,  and  then, the  other;  and,  indeed, 
I  know  of  nothing  that  fits  his  case  so  well  as  a 
part  of  my  friend  Rice's  song : 


56  THE   LIFE    OF 

First  upon  his  heel-tap,  then  upon  his  toe, 

And  every  time  he  wheel'd  about  he  jumpt  Jim  Crow. 

I  shall  next  proceed  to  show  other  cases  where  his 
magical  powers  still  kept  gradually  unfolding 
themselves,  putting  forth  their  feelers  for  some 
high  distinction  in  the  opening  scenes  of  the  great 
political  stage  upon  which  he  had  entered ;  and  in 
which,  so  far  as  shifting  his  dress  was  concerned, 
to  perform  different  characters  in  the  same  play, 
he  had  more  than  answered  public  expectation. 

In  1811  a  board  of  canal  commissioners  was 
elected  in  the  state  of  New  York.  In  1813,  the 
year  after  Mr.  Van  Buren  came  into  the  legisla 
ture,  a  project  was  commenced  to  destroy  the  plan 
of  internal  improvement,  then  in  contemplation. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  one  of  the  conspirators,  not 
withstanding  he  pretends  to  deny  the  right  of  the 
federal  government  to  interfere  with  internal  im 
provements,  and  has  since  professed  to  be  a  great 
advocate  for  those  objects  by  the  respective  states. 
For  the  purpose  above  mentioned,  a  resolution  was 
introduced  into  the  senate,  calling  on  the  commis 
sioners  to  report.  But  the  continuance  of  the  war 
prevented  any  progress  in  the  scheme  until  1817. 

In  March,  1816,  the  board  of  commissioners, 
with  De  Witt  Clinton  at  their  head,  made  a  grand 
report ;  it  was  all  over  the  brightest  light  that 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  57 

human  sense  could  shine  upon  the  subject.  Such 
was  the  effect  of  this  report,  that  the  house  of 
representatives  appropriated,  by  a  vote  of  eighty- 
four  to  eighteen,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  commence  the  work.  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  well  known,  and  indeed,  distin 
guished,  as  the  enemy  of  the  canal  policy ;  and 
there  are  hundreds  of  living  witnesses  who  can, 
at  this  day,  establish  the  fact,  if  any  one  has  the 
hardihood  to  deny  it.  He  was  opposed  to  it  for 
two  reasons :  the  first  was,  lack  of  capacity  and 
enterprise  for  understanding  and  carrying  on  such 
undertakings ;  and  as  to  the  future  benefit  to  his 
state,  that  was  no  object  with  him,  if  it  in  the  least 
degree  interfered  with  any  of  his  schemes  for  per 
sonal  advancement.  He  is  a  statesman  of  no  en 
larged  views,  extending  to  those  great  objects  cal 
culated  to  increase  the  wealth  and  resources  of  a 
country,  and  to  improve  the  condition  of  its  peo 
ple.  He  comprehends  no  great  work  that  is  to  run 
its  roots  through  all  the  various  interests  of  society, 
and  designed  to  send  forth  its  flourishing  branches 
over  every  pursuit  and  occupation  employed  either 
in  the  support  or  refinement  of  life ;  and,  great  as 
he  is  considered,  I  should  like  any  one  to  point  to 
the  work  of  the  kind  coming  from  his  mind.  No, 
his  mind  beats  round,  like  a  tame  bear  tied  to  a 


58  THE    LIFE    OF 

stake,  in  a  little  circle,  hardly  bigger  than  the  cir 
cumference  of  the  head  in  which  it  is  placed,  seek 
ing  no  other  object  but  to  convert  the  government 
into  an  instrument  to  serve  himself  and  his  office- 
loving  friends ;  and  to  this  end,  his  views  reach  no 
higher  than  to  organize  central  and  auxiliary  cau 
cuses,  to  unite  with  them  the  official  and  monied 
influence  of  the  country,  to  hold  out  "  the  spoils 
of  victory"  as  a  temptation  to  membership,  to  per 
fect  a  party  drill ;  and  all  for  the  single  purpose  of 
securing  political  power,  the  great  screw  by  which 
every  thing  is  regulated  thereafter. 

Second,  Because  he  abhorred  and  feared  De  Witt 
Clinton,  who  was  the  great  master-spirit  of  the 
canal  policy.  Having  failed  to  unite  his  fortunes 
with  this  great  man  in  the  presidential  election — 
a  project  where  more  than  one  could  be  benefited 
by  its  successful  issue — and  knowing  that  the 
canal  business  was  only  large  enough  for  one  great 
mind  to  direct  and  conduct  to  its  promised  advan 
tages,  he  was  determined  to  defeat  it,  if  he  could, 
and  thereby  throw,  as  he  supposed,  the  higher 
intellect  and  more  efficient  energies  of  Clinton 
behind  him,  in  the  race  for  power  and  fame.  All 
his  conversations  were  against  the  policy,  and  for 
the  time  he  openly  and  secretly  exerted  himself  to 
put  it  down  ;  but  when  he  perceived  it  was  daily 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  59 

gaining  strength,  so  that  its  friends  had  evidently 
obtained  over  its  enemies,  in  both  branches  of  the 
legislature,  four  votes  to  one,  he  determined,  rather 
than  be  found  in  such  a  thin-ribbed  minority,  and 
great  as  might  be  his  inconsistency,  not  to  vote  at 
all  on  the  question ;  and  so  he  told  his  friends. 
This  was  as  far  as  his  -modesty  would  let  him  go 
at  first.  But  after  looking  at  the  matter  again,  and 
seeing  that  the  policy  was  so  great  a  favourite  with 
the  people,  and  was  coming  down  in  such  a  flood 
as  was  likely  to  sweep  into  a  cocked-hat  all  the 
little  opposing  politicians,  so  complete  was  his 
jump  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  this  rushing  torrent, 
that  the  first  place  he  found  himself  was  right  in 
the  front  of  the  warmest  friends  of  the  system. 
To  the  utter  astonishment  of  his  late  co-conspira 
tors  against  the  work,  he  not  only  voted  for,  but 
made  two  or  three  short  speeches  in  favour  of  the 
appropriation!  The  senate  consisted  of  thirty-iwo 
members  ;  and  the  opposition,  on  the  different 
clauses  of  the  bill,  varied  from  four  to  seven.  In 
point  of  fact,  there  were  eight  opponents  to  the 
measure  before  Van  Buren  betrayed  and  deserted 
them. 

But  to  show  how  barefaced  be  was  in  these  sud 
den  summersets,  even  his  friends  and  presses,  that 
went  all  lengths  for  him,  couldn't  keep  up  with 


60  THE   LIFE    OF 

nim,  or,  at  least,  had  shame  enough  left  not  to 
break  right  off  from  what  they  had  been  advo 
cating  at  his  special  instance ;  and  therefore,  not 
withstanding  his  vote  and  his  speeches,  as  above 
related,  that  all  sorts  of  a  tool  of  his,  the  Albany 
Argus,  and  other  papers  in  his  service,  and  with 
which  he  was  well  known  to  be  intimately  con 
nected,  continued  to  pour  forth  their  abuse  of  the 
canal  policy,  and  against  those  men  who  favoured 
it.  This  game  his  parasites  soon  came  to  under 
stand  perfectly ;  and  knowing  it  was  the  little 
magician's  practice  to  look  one  way  and  row  an 
other,  or,  like  all  other  slight-of-hand  men,  make 
the  spectators  look  any  other  way  but  upon  the 
trick  to  be  performed,  they  were  not  long  de 
ceived,  and  soon  learned  to  tack  nearly  as  soon  as 
the  showman  himself. 

But  even  after  this,  it  can  be  well  established, 
that  he  exerted  a  secret  and  underhand  opposition 
to  the  system,  until  the  certainty  of  success  drove 
all  its  opponents  from  the  field,  covering  them 
with  shame  and  confusion.  When  this  period 
arrived,  Van  Buren  became  a  fiery  supporter  of 
the  system,  and  was  willing  to  vote  larger  appro 
priations  in  favour  of  it,  than  even  its  first  and  fast 
friends  required.  On  this,  and,  as  I  will  show  here 
after  on  all  other  questions  of  any  great  interest, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  Ql 

such  as  are  calculated  to  draw  up  and  bring  out 
distinguished  statesmen,  Van  Buren  is  found  first 
on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other ;  and  not  con 
tent,  as  most  people  would  be,  with  showing  their 
dexterity  once,  he  has  crossed  over  like  the  mazes 
of  a  country  dance,  not  merely  once,  but  twice  or 
thrice  in  the  same  figu re.  » 

It  will  be  seen  by  our  narrative,  that  we  have 
brought  our  hero  down  to  the  most  unfriendly  re 
lations  with  his  rival,  De  Witt  Clinton ;  and  one 
would  suppose  he  could  hardly  ever  be  brought  to 
support  him  again ;  but  we  are  approaching  an 
other  part  of  the  dance,  where  he  will  be  seen 
crossing  over  again.  It  \vill  be  recollected  that 
he  supported  Clinton  against  Madison  in  1812,  for 
the  presidency.  In  1813  he  deceived  and  aban 
doned  him,  and  for  three  years  following  became 
his  most  deadly  foe  and  bitter  opponent.  I  am 
aware  I  use  strong  language,  but  I  assure  the 
reader,  not  stronger  than  is  necessary  to  convey 
the  true  character  of  the  animosity  that  Mr.  Van 
Buren  bore  towards  this  great  man ;  and  I  appeal 
to  the  citizens  of  New  York,  who  are  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  exciting  events  of  the  times  I 
speak  of,  whether  I  give  too  much  colouring  to 
the  statement  when  I  use  the  words  "  deadly  foe" 
and  "bitter  opponent."  I  am  willing  to  risk  the 
F 


52  THE   LIFE    OF 

whole  credibility  of  the  interesting  and  important 
facts  I  am  unfolding  in  relation  to  the  life  of  one 
of  the  most  serpentine  politicians  that  this  or  any 
other  country  has  ever  produced,  upon  the  fidelity 
of  the  account  I  have  just  given  of  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren's  hatred  of  De  Witt  Clinton.  Now  let  us  see 
how  easily  this  long-settled  malice  is  made  to  give 
way  for  a  timeserving  political  purpose. 

In  Ar>ril,  1816,  Mr.  Tompkins  was  re-elected 
governor  of  the  state  of  New  York — a  renewed 
confidence  well  deserved  and  gratefully  bestowed. 
In  December  following  he  was  elected  vice-presi 
dent,  but  did  not  resign  as  governor  until  the  24th 
of  February,  1817.  In  consequence  of  this  va 
cancy  another  governor  was  of  course  to  be  chosen ; 
and  late  in  March,  1817,  a  legislative  caucus  was 
held  in  Albany,  at  which  De  Witt  Clinton  was 
-nominated  for  that  office.  Some  weeks  previous 
to  the  meeting  of  the  caucus,  it  was  ascertained 
beyond  all  doubt,  that  Mr.  Clinton  would  be  nomi 
nated.  In  the  early  part  of  March  several  short 
paragraphs  were  published  in  newspapers  well 
known  to  be  under  the  control  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
recommending  harmony,  forbearance,  &c.  The 
Albany  Argus  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  in  the  hands 
of  Van  Buren.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe, 
and  so  it  was  given  out,  without  contradiction,  that 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  63 

he  was  one  of  its  principal  proprietors.  The  rea 
son  for  this  belief  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that 
extracts  from  his  private  letters  have  been  pub 
lished,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  alarms  of  Mr. 
Suely  its  nominal  editor  and  proprietor,  lest  he, 
Van  Buren,  "  intended  to  get  rid  of  him."  The 
right  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  speak  thus  of  his  con 
trol  over  the  establishment,  has  never  been  denied 
by  Mr.  Buel ;  and  the  presumption  is,  therefore, 
that  he  was,  in  whole  or  in  part,  owner  of  the 
press. 

In  the  second  week  of  March,  1S17,  a  short 
paragraph  appeared  in  the  Argus,  recommending 
"  toleration  and  liberality,"  and  especially  among 
those  who  "may  receive  and  reciprocate  favours" 
This  pointed  so  clearly  to  a  bargain  and  sale  with 
the  Clintonians,  that  the  democratic  party  became 
alarmed  lest  some  new  conspiracy  was  on  foot. 
They  held  several  small  private  caucuses,  Mr.  Van 
Buren  generally  attending;  and  at  the  last,  held 
just  the  week  before  the  general  caucus,  he  was 
positively  present.  It  was  then  determined,  Mr. 
Van  Buren  not  only  assenting,  but  advocating  the 
arrangement,  that  as  soon  as  Mr.  Clinton  was  nomi 
nated,  the  minority  should  rise  and  retire  from  the 
body.  When  the  general  caucus  convened,  about 
the  27th  of  March,  Mr.  Clinton,  as  expected,  re- 


64  THE   LIFE    OF 

ceived  a  majority  of  the  votes.  Immediately  after 
counting  the  ballots,  Mr.  Van  Buren  rose,  and  to 
the  utter  amazement  and  confusion  of  his  late 
friends  and  co-workers,  moved  that  the  nomina 
tion  be  unanimous.  The  minority  were  thunder 
struck,  and  tetotally  dumfounded.  They  never 
theless  retired,  as  had  been  agreed  upon,  leaving 
Van  at  his  magical  operations  with  the  majority ; 
but  not  knowing  the  extent  of  the  treachery,  they 
were  knocked  into  all  sorts  of  disorders,  the  least 
of  which  was  the  lock-jaw  and  the  blind-staggers. 
No  movement  was  made.  Suspicion  and  distrust 
pervaded  their  ranks,  until  the  magic  which  so 
benumbed  their  senses  had  worked  its  effect,  and 
then  they  settled  down  in  calm  observation  of  the 
scene  then  passing  before  their  eyes,  produced  by 
one  of  the  most  dexterous  delusions  ever  played 
off  upon  a  simple,  dough-headed  people.  After  the 
election  of  Mr.  Clinton,  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  found 
in  the  first  platoon  of  his  ranks,  marching  and 
countermarching  to  the  orders  of  his  first-lieu 
tenants  :  and  now,  so  wholly  had  all  his  opposition 
to  the  canal  policy  ceased,  that  in  a  short  time 
thereafter  he  began  to  claim  to  be  one  of  its  fore 
most  champions. 

Thus,  to  repeat,  from  1812  to  1S13,  we  find  Mi. 
Van  Buren  advocating  Mr.  Clinton  ;  then  opposing 


MARTIN  VAX  BUREN.  65 

him  until  1817;  and  now  in  this  year  he  is  found 
supporting  him  again.  Plow  long  does  he  remain 
in  this  new  position  ?  "We  shall  presently  see. 

Mr.  Clinton  was  elected  to  the  office  of  governor 
of  the  state  of  New  York  in  April,  1817;  and 
although  he  knew  his  nomination  and  election  had 
been  advocated  by  Van  Buren,  yet  he  refused  most 
obstinately  to  receive  him  into  his  confidence ; 
having  been  bit  by  him  once,  he  was  resolved 
to  have  nothing  to  do  with  him  thereafter.  If  Van 
Buren,  to  serve  some  of  his  own  hidden  purposes, 
chose  to  turn  backwards  and  forwards,  or  from  side 
to  side,  liko  a  sifter  in  a  baker's  hands,  the  result 
of  which  benefited  him,  Clinton,  he  well  knew  that 
such  was  only  a  secondary  consideration  with  the 
little  magician,  and  therefore  he  kept  him  at  a 
safe  distance.  The  pliant  friends  of  Clinton  re 
commended  harmony  and  conciliation ;  while  his 
more  sturdy,  if  not  more  sagacious,  advisers  re 
commended  him  to  stick  to  his  first  determination, 
which  was,  to  meet  Van  Buren  courteously,  but 
very  cautiously;  and  to  this  advice  he  stuck 
firmly  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Van  Buren   felt  the   mortifying  stand  in 

which  he  was  now  placed.     He  had  contributed 

to  the  elevation  of  Governor  Clinton,  but  could 

receive  no  countenance  or  support  from  him.     To 

F  2 


06  THE   LIFE   OF 

his  great  chagrin,  he  found  that  the  "  toleration  and 
liberality"  recommended  by  his  press,  the  Argus, 
had  not  produced  the  effect  intended ;  and  that  so 
far  from  Mr.  Clinton's  "  reciprocating  the  favours 
he  had  received,"  he  was  hardly  willing  to  extend 
a  cold  civility. 

This  state  of  things,  although  greatly  chafing  to 
his  pride,  would  have  been  very  readily  borne  by 
a  man  who  measured  none  of  the  good  things  of 
this  world  by  his  sensibility,  but  estimated  them 
only  as  they  would  serve  the  passion  for  high 
office.  In  this  last  he  considered  all  other  bless 
ings  to  centre.  He  would  therefore  have  con 
tinued  to  fry  under  the  disgrace  of  serving  Clinton, 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  his  confidence  withdrawn, 
and  the  still  more  degrading  fact  that  his  political 
honesty  was  suspected  and  nailed  to  the  counter, 
if  there  had  been  any  chance  to  realize  the  object 
he  had  in  view  by  his  treachery  to  his  friends. 
But  he  considered  it  useless  to  hang  on  to  a  side 
that  promised  nothing,  and  was  murdering  his 
feelings  by  the  hour;  he  therefore,  during  the 
summer  of  1817,  commenced  privately  making  the 
necessary  arrangements  for  a  return  to  the  party 
he  had  so  wantonly  deceived  in  the  caucus  of  the 
preceding  March. 

At  the  session  of  the  legislature  in  1818,  Mr. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  67 

Van  Buren  did  all  within  his  power  to  cripple  and 
vex  his  administration.  He  was  compelled  by  pre 
vious  committals,  although  he  knew  it  was  the 
favourite  child  of  Clinton,  to  sustain  the  canal  sys 
tem  ;  for  he  had  run  through  all  the  changes  upon 
the  subject  which  he  was  entitled  to,  and  which, 
in  all  conscience,  the  most  double-dealing  politi 
cian  could  require.  He,  however,  so  managed  his 
cards,  and  so  blinded  his  quondam  friends,  as  to 
worm  himself  again  into  the  democratic  party ; 
and  before  the  session  closed,  he  was  the  open  and 
avowed  opponent  of  Clinton. 

We  now  turn  from  the  history  of  our  hero's 
life,  as  connected  with  his  friendships  and  animosi 
ties,  his  professions  and  betrayals,  so  shamefully 
played  off  upon  that  great  statesman,  De  Witt 
Clinton  :  they  would  seem  to  be  of  the  most  exag 
gerated  character.  I  again  appeal  to  those  living 
witnesses — and  there  are  hundreds  of  them  now 
in  the  state  of  New  York — to  say  whether  they 
are  not  as  faithfully  related  as  the  nature  of  the 
facts  and  the  limits  of  this  work  would  admit ; 
whether  there  is  any  one  statement  that  speaks 
more  than  the  truth,  or  less  than  justice.  Before, 
however,  leaving  this  branch  of  the  subject,  to 
enter  upon  one  connected  with  the  public  life  of 
another  equally  great  man,  in  which,  if  possible, 


68  '  THE  LIFE   OF 

more  intrigue  and  management  will  be  seen,  it  wiL 
be  well  to  present  a  reflection  or  two,  which  wih 
fully  satisfy  the  boasted  inquiry  of  Mr.  Benton 
and  Ritchie,  as  to  "  what  has  Van  Buren  done  to 
give  him  the  name  of  magician  ?"  It  will  be  re 
collected  that  from  the  period  down  to  which  we 
have  brought  our  narrative,  Van  Buren  continued 
the  mortal  enemy  of  Mr.  Clinton  to  the  day  of 
his  death ;  that  in  the  interval  he  had  carried  his 
revenge  so  far  as  to  succeed  in  getting  Mr.  Clinton 
removed  from  the  petty  office  of  canal  commis 
sioner  ;  but  in  this,  and  perhaps  the  first  instance 
of  his  life,  he  overreached  himself;  for  his  malice 
was  so  greedy  that  its  cormorant  appetite  provoked 
the  sympathies  of  the  people,  and  perhaps  one  of 
the  most  powerful  reactions  took  place  in  favour 
of  Clinton  that  ever  occurred  in  the  great  field  of 
politics.  The  whole  state  rose  as  one  man ;  pub 
lic  feeling  swelled  into  a  torrent,  upon  the  top  of 
which  it  bore  Clinton  into  the  highest  office  the 
people  could  confer.  He  became  a  political  idol. 
He  was  carried  upon,  and  directed,  a.  current  that 
swept  every  thing  before  it.  Van  Buren  and  his 
friends  stood  aghast  and  confounded,  and  to  all 
human  appearance  seemed  lost  beyond  redemp 
tion  :  but  mark  the  issue.  Clinton  died  suddenly, 
before  any  steps  were  taken  to  break  the  charm 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  69 

of  his  great  popularity,  amidst  all  the  circum 
stances  which  ungrateful  treatment  and  a  deep  sym 
pathy  for  his  untimely  end  could  inspire ;  and  yet, 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  able  not  only  to  evade  the 
force  of  these  almost  resistless  circumstances,  but 
actually  to  turn  them  to  his  own  account.  He  had 
been  fortunately  thrown  into  the  senate  of  the 
United  States,  before  this  crisis,  so  fortunate  to 
Clinton,  had  arrived,  which  threatened  the  utter 
downfall  of  Van  Buren,  and  would  probably  have 
accomplished  it  but  for  his  death.  Upon  the  arri 
val  of  the  news  of  Clinton's  death  at  Washington, 
Van  Buren  seized  the  occasion  of  becoming  Clin 
ton's  eulogist.  It  was  too  good~an  opportunity  to 
recover  his  foothold,  lost  by  too  much  eagerness, 
and  which  he  readily  foresaw  could  be  effected  by 
the  very  same  process  that  conducted  Clinton  to 
his  unparalleled  success :  I  mean  the  sympathies 
of  the  people.  This  is  the  first  great  principle  by 
which  they  are  governed ;  and  to  give  it  a  fortu 
nate  turn  in  favour  of  any  project,  is  to  secure, 
nine  times  out  of  ten,  the  full  success  of  the  under 
taking.  I  refer  the  reader  to  his  own  experience 
in  all  matters,  whether  public  or  private. 

To  present  to  the  people  of  New  York  the  spec 
tacle  of  any  man's  rising  to  announce  the  death, 
and  eulogize  the  life  of  a  favourite  son  and  idolized 


70  THE   LIFE    OF 

statesman,  would  be  sensibly  felt  by  them  :  but 
when  that  man  was  a  distinguished  senator  of  their 
own  ;  when  that  senator  was  the  deadly  foe  of  their 
deceased  son ;  and  when  that  foe,  in  a  spirit  of  deep 
humility,  and  before  the  assembled  talents  and  great 
ness  of  the  nation,  professed  to  have  consigned  to 
the  same  grave  with  his  rival  all  his  feelings  of 
animosity,  and  painted  his  character  in  the  most 
pathetic  and  engaging  colours,  for  which  he  had 
artfully  prepared  himself,  it  is  impossible  to  calcu 
late  the  result  of  such  seeming  magnanimity  and 
disinterestedness.  It  turned  out  to  be  the  forerun 
ner  of  success  ;  and  it  is  most  wonderful  to  contem 
plate  the  consequences.  The  very  tide  upon  which 
Clinton  had  been  elevated,  in  opposition  to  every 
effort,  secret  and  open,  of  Van  Buren, — which  had 
led  to  such  unbounded  fame  and  popularity  as  to 
Clinton,  and  such  shame  and  consternation  as  to 
Van  Buren, — that  very  tide  was  immediately 
mounted  by  the  latter,  notwithstanding  all  the 
opposing  considerations  just  mentioned,  and  he 
has  triumphantly  drifted  to  the  highest  honours 
of  his  state,  as  if  he  had  been  the  original  and 
exclusive  object  of  the  people's  affections.  If  this 
has  not  been  the  work  of  magic,  will  any  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  friends  just  point  out  how  such  a 
political  wonder  has  taken  place?  Let  every  plain, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  7J 

open,  and  sincere  man — a  man  who  values  fair 
dealing,  straight-forward  conduct,  upright  actions, 
directness  of  purpose,  nothing  round  about,  but 
right  to  the  point — duly  reflect  upon  this  part  of 
Van  Buren's  history,  and  if  he  does  not  see  the 
justness  of  the  charges  against  him  for  intrigue 
and  management,  then  I  confess  we  have  indeed 
fallen  upon  evil  times. 

\I  proceed  now  to  lay  another  and  yet  stronger 
case  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  magical  powers  before 
my  readers ;  and  I  ask  their  particular  attention 
to  the  details,  pledging  my  reputation  as  a  public 
character,  or,  if  it  be  preferred,  as  a  true  and  skil 
ful  bear-hunter,  to  the  truth  of  every  particular, 
still  calling  upon  those  who  were  concerned  in  the 
events  related,  to  support  my  facts,  if  any  one  dares 
to  deny  them. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1819,  the  term  of  service 
of  Ritfus  King,  as  a  senator  of  the  United  States, 
was  to  expire.  He  was,  as  everybody  knows,  a 
kind  of  run-mad  opponent  of  the  admission  of 
Missouri  into  the  Union,  except  upon  conditions 
which  the  southern  people  believed  was  the  enter 
ing  wedge  to  the  destruction  of  a  certain  kind  of 
property  held  by  them.  On  the  question  of  slavery 
he  was  a  fanatic.  All  his  prejudices  were  enlisted 
against  the  South  and  southern  policy,  both  on 


72  THE   LIFE    OF 

account  of  their  slavery  and  their  attachment  to 
republican  principles.  He  was  a  federalist  dyed 
in  the  wool,  and  a  leader  of  the  clan.  He  rallied 
around  him  all  the  New  England  federalists,  and 
entertained  the  very  strongest  prejudices  against 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  leading  Virginia  politicians 
and  their  doctrines,  denouncing  them  as  wild  and 
disorganizing.  He  was  violently  opposed  to  the 
war;  and  fcr  the  purpose  of  mortifying  Mr.  Madi 
son  and  disgracing  his  administration,  he  advocated 
in  the  United  States  a  project  for  mortgaging  the 
national  domain  to  raise  money  to  carry  on  the 
war,  contending  that  the  people  had  not  confidence 
enough  in  the  government,  or  the  administration, 
to  lend  them  money  without  a  mortgage  upon  their 
public  lands.  I  consider  these  remarks,  and  so  the 
reader  will  find,  indispensably  necessary  to  what 
immediately  follows,  and  by  no  means  to  reproach 
the  character  of  that  illustrious  individual,  whose 
opinions,  doubtless,  were  honest,  though  they 
wholly  differed  from  those  of  the  republican  party. 
When  the  legislature  of  New  York  convened, 
at  the  close  of  1818  or  beginning  of  1819,  Mr 
King  was  to  be  re-elected,  or  a  new  senator  chosen. 
This,  it  was  foreseen,  (or  rather  supposed,)  would 
be  embarrassing  to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  because,  as 
has  been  shown,  Mr.  King  and  Van  Buren  had 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  73 

acted  together  against  Mr.  Madison  and  the  war. 
It  was  also  well  known  that  they  thought,  or  pre 
tended  to  think  alike  on  the  Missouri  question. 

Mr.  Clinton  had  many  personal  as  well  as  poli 
tical  friends  arising  out  of  the  canal  policy.  He 
was  therefore  sustained  by  a  majority  of  the  demo 
cratic  party  in  the  legislature.  If  the  party  acted 
m  concert,  it  was  very  certain  that  Mr.  King  would 
be  defeated.  If  either  section  of  the  party  sup 
ported  him,  he  would  be  re-elected.  If  neither 
voted  for  him,  but  divided  on  another,  there  could 
be  no  election  during  the  session. 

Under  such  circumstances,  Mr.  Van  Buren's 
plan  was  to  prevent  any  election  ;  and  to  this  end, 
he  refused  to  be  governed  by  the  proceedings  of 
the  democratic  caucus,  (though  now  he  is  in  favour 
of  one  at  Baltimore,)  nominating  a  senator,  because 
they  were  favourable  to  John  C.  Spencer,  known 
as  a  friend  and  connexion  of  Mr.  Clinton. 

Van  Buren  now  went  to  work  at  his  accustomed 
game,  "divide  and  conquer;"  a  game  he  does  not 
like  at  all  when  played  against  himself.  Every 
movement  that  he  could  make  to  distract  the 
party,  was  made,  and  in  many  instances  with 
great  success. 

The  legislature,  as  already  remarked,  met  in 


74  THE    LIFE   OF 

January,  1819.  The  federal  party  mustered  about 
one  to  four  of  the  democratic  party  united.  In  the 
choice  of  a  speaker  of  the  House,  General  German, 
a  democratic  member,  but  a  friend  of  Governor 
Clinton,  was  elected.  He  received  the  votes  of 
the  federal  members.  This  afforded  Van  Buren 
exactly  what  he  wanted,  a  glorious  opportunity  to 
denounce  De  Witt  Clinton  and  his  friends,  and  to 
charge  them  with  having  leagued  with  the  federal 
ists  for  the  purpose  of  RE-ELECTING  RUFUS 
KING  to  the  senate  of  the  United  States.  Mr. 
King  was  known  to  be  the  most  violent  opponent 
of  the  South,  and  against  the  Missouri  question ; 
he  was  charged  with  uttering  the  most  incendiary 
opinions.  The  Albany  Argus  and  other  papers 
belonging  to  the  Van  Buren  faction,  published 
almost  daily  the  same  sentiments ;  and  as  a  speci 
men  of  Van  Buren's  apparent  hostility  to  Mr. 
King,  the  following  short  extracts  are  made  from 
one  of  his  most  servile  presses : 

"  January  16th,  1819.  If  &  federal  gentleman 
is  appointed  to  the  senate,  let  other  states  in  the 
Union  be  satisfied  that  the  administration  of  this 
state  is  under  federal  influence.  If  Mr.  Clinton 
is  the  republican  we  are  taught  to  believe,  then  no 
federalist  will  be  appointed." 


MARTIN  YAS   BUREN.  75 

"February  1st  No  hope  of  success  or  triumph 
should  lead  to  any  alliance  with  political  oppo 
nents" 

It  is  useless  to  multiply  extracts  of  the  above 
description.  These  are  given  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  intrigue  of  Van  Buren.  In  the  com 
mencement  of  1819,  all  his  efforts  were  directed 
to  two  points :  First,  to  defeat,  for  the  present,  the 
re-election  of  Mr.  King ;  and,  second,  so  to  distract 
and  divide  the  democratic  party,  (a  matter  that 
gives  him  and  the  u  Gin'ral"  great  apprehensions 
at  the  present  time,)  as  to  prevent  the  choice  of  a 
senator  during  the  then  session  of  the  legislature. 
The  object  he  had  in  view  was  to  enter  into  a  bar 
gain  with  the  friends  of  Mr.  King.  If  this  arrange 
ment  could  be  made,  Van  Buren  was  prepared  to 
advocate  his  re-election  at  the  next  session  of  the 
legislature.  But  at  the  (then)  present  moment,  he 
could  gain  nothing  by  supporting  Mr.  King,  and 
therefore,  according  to  the  New  York  tactics,  he 
went  for  putting  off  the  case,  and  taking  the  rise 
in  the  market,  usually  produced  by  doubts  and 
delays. 


76  THE   LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON  the  2d  of  February,  1819,  as  appears  by  the 
journals  of  the  legislature  of  New  York,  an  unsuc 
cessful  attempt  was  made  to  appoint  a  senator.  A 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  votes  was  neces 
sary  to  a  choice.  In  the  two  Houses,  the  votes 
were,  for 

John  C.  Spencer,  (Clintonian,)  -  -  61 
Samuel  Young,  (Anti-Clintonian,)  -  56 
Rufus  King,  (Federal,)  -  -  -  -  38 

- — — — . _ 

No  other  attempt  to  appoint  a  senator  was  made 
during  the  session,  and  the  legislature  adjourned 
without  a  choice. 

As  soon  as  the  question  was  decided  that  Mr. 
King  would  not  receive  the  support  of  the  Clinto- 
nians,  Mr.  Van  Buren  opened  a  negotiation  with 
the  federal  party,  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
necessary  arrangements  to  secure  his  election  at 
the  next  session.  The  terms  and  conditions  have 
always  been  considered,  in  the  north  at  least,  as 
discreditable  to  Mr.  King  as  they  were  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  It  would  seem,  if  this  was  not  the  case, 


MARTIN  VAN   BUIIEN.  77 

the  relatives  of  Mr.  King  would,  probably,  long 
since  have  rescued  their  father's  fame  from  the 
effects  of  the  well-known  rumours  which  have 
been  so  frequently  circulated  on  the  subject.  No 
one  doubts  that  the  means  of  placing  this  bargain 
in  its  true  colours  is  in  the  possession  of  his  family; 
and  until  they  are  brought  forth,  common  justice 
requires  that  Mr.  King  and  Van  Buren  must  be 
linked  together  as  equals  in  this  transaction. 

The  question  of  appointing  a  senator  was  put  to 
rest,  as  before  mentioned,  on  the  2d  of  February. 
Early  in  March,  Mr.  William  Coleman,  editor  of 
the  New  York  Evening  Post,  for  the  purpose  of 
encouraging  and  flattering  Van  Buren,  compli 
mented  Mr.  King  in  the  strongest  terms,  for  the 
manly  resistance  he  had  made  and  was  making  in 
the  senate  of  the  United  States,  against  the  SOUTH, 
on  the  Missouri  question. 

And  here  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  stop  for  a  mo 
ment,  merely  to  make  the  inquiry,  what  it  is  that 
has  made .  the  state  of  Missouri  so  vastly  friendly 
to  Van  Buren  ?  Under  the  influence,  if  not  the 
control,  of  Colonel  Benton,  she  has  nominated  him 
for  the  presidency.  Can  any  good  reason  be  given 
for  this  ?  Do  the  good  people  of  that  state  know 
Mr.  Van  Buren  ?  Are  they  informed  of  the  fact, 
that  the  most  implacable  and  uncompromising 


78  THE  LIFE   OF 

enemy  with  which  they  had  to  contend  in  the 
senate  of  the  United  States,  during  the  two  ses 
sions  of  1819  and  1820,  was  Rufus  King?  Do 
they,  or  do  they  not  know  that  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  the  principal  cause  of  Mr.  King's  election  ? 
Are  they  not  apprized  that  this,  their  untiring  foe, 
was  thus  elected  by  a  selfish  and  detestable  in 
trigue,  of  which  Martin  Van  Buren  was  not  only 
the  prime  mover,  but  the  master-spirit  that  directed 
it  to  its  final  issue  ?  And  is  it  for  this  hostility 
to  their  admission  into  the  Union  they  are  now 
called  upon  to  vote  for  him  as  president  ?  Is  it 
not  more  charitable  to  believe  that  the  good  peo 
ple  of  Missouri  have  been  deceived  by  political 
mountebanks,  and  are  entirely  ignorant  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  opposition  to  their  growth  or  prosperity  ? 
In  the  beginning  of  April,  1819,  the  legislature 
of  New  York  adjourned  ;  and  at  that  period  there 
is  the  most  incontestable  proof  that  Mr.  Van  Buren 
professed  the  most  deadly  hostility  to  any  man 
or  measure  favourable  to  the  re-election  of  Rufus 
King.  The  party  press  of  the  day  presented  a 
very  singular  aspect  indeed,  not  to  say  a  most  cor 
rupt  condition.  That  portion  of  it  with  which 
Van  Buren  was  connected,  with  the  Mbany  Argils 
at  the  head,  was  assailing  and  traducing  De  Witt 
Clinton  and  his  adherents  for  an  alleged  combina- 


MARTIN  VAN  BfREN.  79 

tion  to  promote  Mr.  King's  election ;  while  the 
federal  portion,  with  the  New  York  Evening  Post 
in  the  van,  was  pouring  forth  its  denunciations 
against  Mr.  Clinton  and  his  friends  for  their  oppo 
sition  to  the  same  individual.  Under  such  circum 
stances,  the  adjournment  took  place.  Thus  far  the 
Van  Burenites  had  succeeded  ;  they  had  prevented 
the  election  of  a  senator  ;  that  was  all  they  wanted, 
for  the  time ;  but  they  had  further  effected  a  very 
important  point,  in  creating  strong  prejudices 
among  the  people  against  Mr.  Clinton,  by  repeated 
charges  that  he  was  leagued  with  the  federalists  to 
secure  Mr.  King's  election. 

As  soon  as  the  legislature  had  adjourned,  Mr 
Van  Buren,  through  the  agency  of  Coleman  of  the 
Evening  Post,  opened  his  negotiation  wTith  Mr. 
King.  A  close  and  confidential  intercourse  en 
sued.  This  was  considered  the  more  extraordi 
nary,  as  Mr.  King  was  well  known  to  possess 
high-toned  aristocratic  feelings ;  and  that  he  would 
not  mix  or  associate  with  such  men  as  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  me,  who  were  nothing  but  the  sons  of 
little,  petty,  country  tavern-keepers,  unless  it  was 
his  intention  to  make  use  of  such  folks  as  we 
were;  and  for  such  use  he  was  willing  to  pay; 
and,  unfortunately,  in  Mr.  Van  Buren  he  found  a 
person  not  less  willing  to  receive  than  he  was  to 


g()  THE   LIFE   OF   - 

pay.  At  that  time,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  just  be  - 
ginning  to  creep  into  what  he  now  calls  "genteel 
society."  He  was  then  contented  to  eat  and  to 
drink  and  to  associate  with  plain  men,  with  honest 
hearts  and  clean  hands.  If  he  was  travelling,  and 
stopped  at  a  house,  he  was  willing  to  sit  down 
among  the  people,  and  did  nq>t  feel  himself  degraded 
by  riding  in  a  comfortable  country  wagon.  Then, 
anybody  could  tell  by  his  looks  that  he  was  not  a 
ivoman;  but  the  signs  of  the  times  are  wofully 
changed. 

Now,  he  travels  about  the  country  and  through 
the  cities  in  an  English  coach ;  has  English  ser 
vants,  dressed  in  uniform — I  think  they  call  if. 
livery ;  they  look  as  big  as  most  of  our  members 
of  Congress,  and  fully  as  fine  as  the  higher  officers 
in  the  army :  no  longer  mixes  with  the  sons  of 
little  tavern-keepers  ;  forgets  all  his  old  com 
panions  and  friends  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life ; 
hardly  knows,  I  suspect,  his  old  patron,  Rial, 
eats  in  a  room  by  himself;  and  is  so  stiff  in  his 
gait,  and  prim  in  his  dress,  that  he  is  what  the 
English  call  a  dandy.  When  he  enters  the  senate- 
chamber  in  the  morning,  he  struts  and  swaggers 
like  a  crow  in  a  gutter.  He  is  laced  up  in  corsets, 
such  as  women  in  a  town  wear,  and,  if  possible, 
tighter  than  the  best  of  them,  It  would  be  diffi 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  gj 

cult  to  say,  from  his  personal  appearance,  whether 
he  was  man  or  woman,  but  for  his  large  red  and 
gray  whiskers. 

During  the  summer  of  1819,  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  in  the  habit  of  coming  from  Albany  to  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  visiting  Mr.  King  on  Long 
Island.  The  result  of  all  this  billing  and  cooing 
was,  an  arrangement  with  Van  Buren,  notwith 
standing  all  his  former  abuse  of  Mr.  King,  that  he 
should  be  elected  senator  when  the  legislature 
again  assembled.  A  more  corrupt  and  profligate 
political  bargain  was  never  negotiated  and  consum 
mated  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  King  was  a  vio 
lent  federalist ;  had  warmly  opposed  every  repub 
lican  administration,  from  Mr.  Jefferson's,  down ; 
threw  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Mr.  Madison,  in 
every  possible  shape,  with  a  view  to  produce  a 
disgraceful  termination  of  the  war,  thereby  expect 
ing  to  drive  the  republicans  from  power,  and  restore 
the  federalists  to  their  former  standing.  He  was 
the  most  persecuting  adversary  of  the  South ;  had 
delivered,  and  it  was  well  known  would  continue 
to  deliver,  speeches  in  the  senate — of  what  the 
Richmond  Enquirer  denominated  at  the  time  "« 
most  incendiary  character" — against  the  unre 
stricted  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  IJnion ;  and 
yet  Martin  Van  Buren,  professing  to  belong  to  the 


§2  THE   LIFE   OF 

democratic  party — and  has  been  more  abused,  ac 
cording  to  the  sayings  of  Benton  and  Ritchie,  than 
any  other  republican  but  Mr.  Jefferson — became, 
first,  his  secret  opponent  and  reviler,  and  then,  in 
the  same  identical  summer,  his  open  champion  and 
supporter!  Does  Benton  and  Ritchie  dare  to  say 
such  conduct  as  this  deserves  no  abuse ;  such  flagi 
tious  bargaining  merits  no  reproach  ;  and  that  the 
man  who  is  censured  for  such  infamous  bartering 
in  politics,  for  the  sake  alone  of  office,  is  considered 
persecuted  ?  If  they  admit  the  facts,  there  is  no 
abuse  too  great,  and  he  never  can  be  sufficiently 
reproached  for  such  shameless  prostitution  of  prin 
ciple  ;  and  if  they  deny  them,  they  can  and  shall 
be  proven,  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  man  in  the 
nation,  who  is  not  a  slave  to  prejudice,  or  a  vile 
menial  of  the  kitchen  cabinet. 

Among  the  first  proofs  that  Van  Buren  had  put 
his  fist,  as  we  say  in  the  back-woods,  to  the  con 
tract  with  Mr.  King,  by  which  he  conveyed  to  him 
that  portion  of  the  democratic  party  who  merely 
assumed  the  name,  the  more  readily  to  be  used  and 
transferred  by  Van  Buren,  whenever  it  suited  his 
purpose  to  make  a  political  bargain,  was  the  course 
of  the  Albany  Argus.  Although  names  are  nothing, 
yet  there  is  nothing  in  all  nature  so  well  calculated 
to  deceive  as  names.  Under  the  name  of  the  demo- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  ^3 

cratic  party,  the  people  of  Maine  and  New  Hamp 
shire  are  at  this  day  more  duped  and  gulled  than 
any  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  by  the  tricks 
and  artifices  of  such  men  as  Isaac  Hill  and  Silas 
Wright.  Under  this  name  Van  Buren  has  prac 
tised  all  his  frauds  upon  the  good  people  of  New 
York,  and  is  now  pushing  the  same  deception  into 
every  quarter  of  the  Union.  Although  I  have 
plainly  shown,  by  the  most  unquestionable  evi 
dence,  that  every  important  act  of  his  life  has  been 
connected  with  the  federal  party ;  that  he  has  served 
that  party  infinitely  more  than  the  other ;  that  he 
has  been  against  the  republican  party  in  all  the  great 
struggles  calculated  to  try  its  principles  down  to  the 
very  foundation ;  that  he  was  against  the  war,  than 
which  nothing  could  so  effectually  endanger  the  de 
mocratic  doctrines;  that  he  went  against  Mr.  Madi 
son,  who  \vas  the  clear  choice  of  the  democratic 
party,  and  tried,  and  succeeded  in  part,  to  divide  it 
in  favour  of  Mr.  Clinton,  (though  now  he  thinks  it 
will  be  very  wrong  to  split  the  party;)  that  he  sup 
ported  Mr.  King — the  king  of  federalists,  and  per 
haps  the  most  mortal  enemy  the  democratic  party 
had — at  a  time  when  the  Union  was  nearly  con 
vulsed  to  its  centre,  and  the  republican  party  needed 
all  the  help  they  could  get  in  both  branches  of 
Congress  :  and  yet  his  friends,  with  the  "Gin'ral" 


84  THE   LIFE   OF 

at  their  head,  are  crying  out  that  Martin  Van  Buren 
is  at  the  head  of  the  democratic  party,  and  that  the 
democratic  party  must  not  divide  in  his  election 
for  the  president.  Even  the  republican  state  of 
Virginia,  with  all  these  damning  facts  of  double- 
dealing,  two-sided,  under-handed,  cross-jostling, 
trading,  shifting,  and  gambling  acts  of  his,  by 
which  the  democratic  party  has  been  deceived, 
betrayed,  and  deserted  a  hundred  times  over,  is 
about  to  listen  to  the  deceitful  insinuations  of  Tom 
Ritchie,  that  he  is  a  shamefully-abused  and  much- 
injured  republican,  who  has  done  more  for  the 
democratic  party  than  any  other  living  man,  ex 
cept  General  Jackson.  May  God  of  his  infinite 
mercy  save  the  country  from  such  a  destroying 
infatuation. 

As  before  stated,  the  course  of  the  Albany  Argus 
gave  early  signs  that  all  was  lost ;  that  the  long- 
hidden  and  much-discussed  compromise  was  finish 
ed.  It  occasionally  gave  out  dark  and  mysterious 
intimations  in  paragraphs  like  this  :  "  that  Mr.  King 
was  not  so  uncompromising  a  federalist  as  some 
had  supposed."  But  at  length,  towards  the  close 
of  the  summer,  the  following  remarks  appeared  in 
that  paper,  which  was  deemed  at  the  time  conclu 
sive,  as  to  the  course  and  policy  Van  Buren  and 
his  party  intended  to  pursue,  when  the  legislature 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  85 

snould  convene,  on  the  senatorial  election :  "  We 
are  happy  to  observe  that  Mr.  King  is  decidedly 
opposed  to  the  measures  of  Mr.  Clinton." 

But  the  finishing  blow  is  yet  to  be  told ;  and  if 
it  does  not  furnish  the  most  artfully-conceived, 
thoreugh-bred,  ingrained,  deep-dyed  political  vil- 
lany  that  ever  demagogue  displayed,  then  I  con 
fess  my  habits  of  life,  and  still  more  limited  infor 
mation,  has  not  only  kept  me  ignorant  of  political 
debauchery,  but  narrowed  my  conception  of  cor 
ruption  within  a  circle  beyond  which  I  hope  never 
to  be  enlightened,  if  there  is  any  thing  worse  than 
what  I  am  about  to  relate. 

After  the  bargain  and  sale  was  made  between 
Martin  Van  Buren  and  Rufus  King,  a  pamphlet, 
in  support  of  Mr.  King  as  senator,  appeared,  en 
titled  "  CONSIDERATIONS  on  the  election  of  Rufus 
King,"  £c.;  beyond  all  question  the  joint  wrork 
of  Van  Buren  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  the  present 
attorney-general.  Now,  is  it  possible  to  conceive  of 
any  thing  more  profligate  ?  During  the  winter  of 
1819,  Van  Buren  was  continually  denouncing  as 
an  unprincipled  federalist,  any  man  who  would, 
directly  or  indirectly ',  ..support  the  election  of 
Rufus  King,  and  did  actually,  by  his  intrigues  and 
management,  defeat  the  election  of  a  senator  ;  yet 
within  six  months  after  this  open  avowal,  be  enters 
H 


86  THE   LIFE    OF 

into  a  solemn  agreement  not  only  to  support  and 
vote  for  this  gentleman,  but  to  write,  or  procure  to 
be  written,  a  pamphlet  recommending  his  appoint 
ment  to  the  senate. 

In  the  autumn  of  1819,  as  the  legislature  of  the 
state  of  New  York  was  to  'meet  in  the  following 
January,  some  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  adherents  be 
came  alarmed  :  they  were  fearful  of  the  conse 
quences  to  the  party,  if  they  supported  a  federalist 
•of  Mr.  King's  stamp ;  but  they  were  yet  more 
alarmed  at  the  consequences  of  returning  to  the 
senate  of  the  United  States  a  man  so  vindictive 
against  the  South,  so  unkind  and  uncharitable  in 
his  reflections  upon  their  conduct  as  to  slavery,  but 
especially  so  violent  in  his  opposition  against  Mis 
souri,  as  Mr.  King  had  proven  himself  to  be  at  the 
preceding  session  of  congress.  On  this  subject  one 
of  his  friends  wrote  to  him,  and  expressed  his 
apprehensions.  From  one  of  his  letters  in  an 
swer  to  these  fears,  I  am  authorized  to  give  the 
following  extract,  to  which  I  beg  the  earnest  atten 
tion—nay,  the  whole  soul,  if  he  has  any — of  the 
reader.  The  original,  in  the  handwriting  of,  and 
signed  by  Martin  Van  JBuren,  is  in  the  posses 
sion  of  a  friend  of  my  informant,  and  if  its  authen 
ticity  is  denied,  will  be  produced  at  the  shortest 
notice.  In  that  letter,  among  other  curious  things, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  37 

(for  it  consists  of  three  pages,)  are  the  following 
remarks  :  "  I  should  sorely  regret  to  find  &ny  flag 
ging  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  King.  We  are  com 
mitted  to  his  support.  It  is  both  wise  and  honesty 
and  we  must  have  no  fluttering  in  our  course. 
Mr.  King's  views  towards  us  are  honourable  and 
correct.  The  Missouri  question  conceals,  so  far  as 
HE  is  concerned,  NO  PLOT,  and  WE  shall  give 
it  a  true  direction.  You  know  what  the  feelings 
and  views  of  our  friends  were  when  I  saw  you ; 
and  you  know  what  we  then  concluded  to  do. 
Mr  <CO>SIDERATIONS,'  &c.,  and  the  aspect  of  the 
Jllbany  Argus )  will  show  you  that  ice  have  entered 
on  the  work  in  earnest.  We  cannot,  therefore, 
look  back.  Let  us  not,  therefore,  have  any  halt 
ing.  I  will  put  my  head  on  its  propriety  " 

Now,  here  is  a  full  disclosure  of  the  treason  ; 
here  is  the  very  language,  style,  and  countenance 
of  a  plot  The  short  sentences,  as  if  written  in  a 
suppressed  breathing ;  the  half-way  hints  ;  the 
partly-concealed  views ;  words  that  point  to  more 
than  is  proper  to  be  mentioned,  even  to  a  friend 
and  confederate;  reference  to  former  arrangements; 
allusions  to  pre-concerted  plans;  and,  indeed,  every 
thing  that  marks  and  defines  a  traitor.  Will  any 
one  pretend  to  say,  after  this,  that  the  terms  "  New 
York  tactics/'  "Albany  Regency,"  "Manager," 


S8  THE   LIFE   OF 

and  "  Little  Magician/'  are  untruly  or  even  un 
generously  applied  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  ?  If  they 
do,  there  never  has  yet,  in  all  the  crime  with  which 
the  world  has  been  cursed,  died  upon  the  gallows 
any  one  of  its  perpetrators,  with  evidence  sufficient 
to  have  consigned  him  to  such  a  fate,  and  all  crea 
tion  should  now  be  in  tears  and  mourning  for  the 
murder  so  widely  and  deeply  committed  upon 
injured  innocence. 

It  will  be  perceived  in  the  above  extract,  that 
although  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  treache 
rous  compact  are  not  specified,  there  is  an  acknow 
ledgment  that  they  (the  Albany  Regency)  "  are 
committed  to  his  [King's]  support."  The  pamphlet 
in  favour  of  electing  Rufus  King,  entitled  "  Con 
siderations  on  the  Election  of  Rufus  King,"  is  here 
acknowledged  by  Van  Buren  to  have  been  written 
by  him,  when  he  says  "  my  Considerations"  &c. 
Here,  also,  is  a  confession — a  most  precious  one,  as 
concerns  many  of  the  facts  related  in  this  narrative, 
which  the  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in  mind — of 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  control  over  the  Albany  Argus. 

But  there  is  one  other  suggestion  in  the  letter, 
which,  if  not  alarming,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
very  mysterious,  and  the  public  ought  never  to 
rest  satisfied  until  it  is  fully  explained.  It  would 
seem,  as  if  there  was  a  plot  in  the  Missouri  ques- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  gg 

tion,  very  different  from  any  thing  Mr.  King  had 
in  view ;  and  that  while  he  was  using  it  for  one 
purpose,  the  little  magician  and  his  friends  had  a 
totally  different  object  in  their  eye,  which,  though 
it  has  failed  and  passed  away,  ought  to  be  known 
to  the  country,  as  a  caution  how  they  place  its  des 
tinies  in  the  hands  of  so  dark  and  designing  a  junto 
as  the  Albany  Regency. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  states  that  "  Mr.  King's  views 
towards  us  (the  Regency)  are  honourable  and  cor 
rect,"  and  then  adds,  "the  Missouri  question  con 
ceals,  so  far  as  HE  [Mr.  King]  is  concerned,  NO 
PLOT."  It  must  be  obvious  to  every  mind,  if  lan 
guage  means  any  thing,  that  this  last  expression, 
connected  with  the  one  just  above  it,  has  reference 
alone  to  the  motives  of  Mr.  King,  and  that  the 
writer's  intention  was  barely  to  release  Mr.  King 
from  any  concern  in  whatever  plot  might  be  con 
cealed  under  the  Missouri  question.  And  this 
construction  is  conclusive,  when  the  two  following 
sentences  are  properly  considered.  After  remark 
ing  that  "  the  Missouri  question  conceals  no  plot, 
so  far  as  he  [Mr.  King]  is  concerned,  the  writer 
says,  "we  shall  give  it  a  true  direction,"  and  tjien 
immediately  refers  to  a  secret  understanding  among 
the  Regency,  expressed  in  these  very  remarkable 
but  significant  words;  viz.  "You  ktiow  what  the 
H  2 


90  THE   LIFE   OF 

feelings  and  views  of  our  friends  were  when  I  saw 
you^  and  you  know  what  we,  then  concluded  to 
do."  Now,  what  was  that  "true  direction?"- 
The  public  has  a  right  to  know  it,  for  everybody 
knows  the  question  came  very  near  dissolving  the 
Union ;  and,  but  for  the  direction  given  to  it  by 
Mr.  Clay,  (not  Mr.  Van  Buren,)  in  all  human  pro 
bability  we  should  now  be  a  dismembered  nation, 
subject  to  all  the  strifes  and  contentions  of  petty 
republics,  from  discord  within  and  distrust  with 
out.  No  other  direction  from  Mr.  King's  original 
design  was  attempted  to  be"  given  to  it,  except  that 
which  it  took  from  Mr.  Clay's  proposed  compro 
mise  ;  and  consequently,  but  for  that,  the  scheme, 
whatever  it  was,  would  have  taken  effect.  Now, 
I  repeat,  that  scheme  ought  to  be  known,  espe 
cially  as  the  projector  and  principal  actor  in  it  is 
lately  selected  and  nominated  by  General  Jackson 
to  be  his  successor  to  the  high  office  of  president 
of  the  United  States.  It  must  have  been  a  matter 
of  the  most  promising  result  to  his  wishes,  or  men 
who  had  been  the  long  and  sworn  enemies  of  each 
other,  who  belonged  to  different  parties,  who  had 
always  been  rivals  and  jealous  of  one  another,  not 
only  from  their  difference  of  politics,  but  their  dif 
ference  of  station  and  standing,  one  belonging  to 
the  common  people  and  the  other  to  the  nobility, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  91 

could  not  have  so  easily  dropped  their  resentments 
and  become  so  closely  united ;  much  less  could 
Van  Buren  have  said  that  it  was  "  wise  to  elect  Mr. 
King,"  and  that  he  would  "put  his  head  upon  its 
propriety." 

Mr.  Van  Buren  owes  it  to  himself,  and  much 
more  to  his  country,  to  show  the  motive  of  this 
most  discordant  and  unnatural  union  between  him 
self  and  Mr.  King ;  it  must  have  had  some  object, 
and  if  it  was  not  a  hurtful,  and  therefore  hateful 
one,  it  is  in  his  power,  and  he  is  bound,  to  show 
the  true  one ;  and  if  he  fails  to  do  so,  the  world  has 
a  right  to  infer  that  it  was  a  corrupt  coalition, 
founded  in  corrupt  motives,  and  aiming  at  a  cor 
rupt  purpose.  Let  him,  therefore,  come  out,  and 
relieve  the  state  of  Missouri  £rom  the  awkward 
condition  in  which  Mr.  Benton  has  placed  her.  by 
making  her  nominate  her  earliest  and  worst,  be 
cause  secret,  enemy,  to  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States ;  for  if,  with  the  odious  disclosures  above 
made,  her  people  can  be  made  to  vote  for  him,  the 
office-holders  will  have  given  proof,  that  in  one 
state  at  least,  they  are  all-powerful,  and  that  her 
people  know  nothing  of  principle  when  it  comes 
in  opposition  to  party  drill. 


92  THE  LIFE  OF 


CHAPTER  III. 

I  HAVE  now  gone  through  some  of  the  most 
prominent  events  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  early  poli 
tical  life,  and  such  as  present  him  in  conflict  with 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  state — 
men  decidedly  his  superiors  in  point  of  character, 
age,  influence,  and  ability — in  which  he  seems  to 
have  used  them  at  pleasure,  to  accomplish  his 
schemes  of  aggrandizement ;  in  which  he  has  put 
them  up  and  put  them  down,  whenever  he  has 
thought  proper;  promoting  his  and  their  views 
to-day,  and  circumventing  them  to-morrow,  when 
he  did  not  wish  to  share  with  them  his  good  for 
tunes.  One  would  naturally  ask,  how  has  this 
been  done  ?  Has  it  been  by  open,  honest,  and  fair 
means  ?  If  so,  they  could  be  shown,  and  ought  to 
be ;  for  every  one  must  admit,  that  as  things  now 
stand,  they  are  mixed  up  with  wonderful  doubt, 
and  the  appearance,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  of 
amazing  dexterity — a  dexterity,  if  not  meriting 
the  name  of  magic,  is  at  least  entitled  to  that  of 
mystery. 


MARTIN  VAX  BUREN.  93 

I  am  about  to  exhibit  him  upon  another  theatre, 
in  which  he  has  been  equally  successful,  and  by  the 
operation  of  causes  much  more  wonderful — causes 
that  have  secured  for  him  the  second  office  in  the 
government,  and  almost  secured  his  successorship 
to  the  first  Now,  if  this  unrivalled  elevation  can 
not  in  justice  be  ascribed  to  either  his  talents  or 
great  services,  (and  who  among  the  most  unblink 
ing  of  his  friends  can  contend  for  such  merit?  who 
can  point  us  to  a  single  consequence  of  either  ?) 
must  not  some  other  cause  be  sought  to  solve  the 
riddle  ?  And  have  I  not  laid  before  the  country 
the  very  facts  that  sufficiently  account  for  all  this 
singular  prosperity  ?  Who,  that  reads  what  I  have 
written,  so  long  as  it  remains  uncontradicted  or 
unexplained  to  the  people,  can  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  the  rise  of  a  man  from  nothing,  in  so  populous 
a  state  as  New  York,  without  education,  without 
uncommon  genius  or  physical  exertion,  without 
fortune,  without  influential  friends,  without  talents 
but  of  the  most  ordinary  kind,  without  any  of  those 
great  acts  of  a  statesman  that  usually  beget  sudden 
and  exalted  popularity ;  opposed,  too,  by  the  first 
men  and  talents  of  his  state,  must  be  wholly  owing 
to  a  subtlety  of  mind  and  a  suppleness  of  principle 
totally  inconsistent  with  those  moral  obligations 
usually  imposed  upon  human  conduct  ? 


94  THE   LIFE    OF 

Mr.  Benton  and  Tom  Ritchie  are  trying  to  per 
suade  the  people  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  has  been 
more  abused  than  any  man  in  America,  except  Mr. 
Jefferson ;  and  they  except  Mr.  Jefferson  merely 
for  the  benefit  of  comparing  Van  Buren  to  that 
great  man,  thinking  the  people  will  take  it  for 
granted  that  as  Mr.  Jefferson  was  made  president 
because  he  was  so  much  abused,  Mr.  Van  Buren 
ought  to  be  also,  for  the  same  reason.  But  no  one 
can  show  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  so  great  a  double- 
dealer  as  Mr.  Van  Buren,  or  the  thousandth  part 
of  the  intrigue  and  management  which  I  have 
already  exhibited,  let  lone  that  which  is  behind ; 
and  until  they  do,  I  insist  upon  it  that  they  take 
nothing  by  linking  Van  Buren's  name  to  that  of 
Jefferson's. 

I  have  clearly  shown  that  Van  Buren  had  a  deep 
agency  in  the  Missouri  question ;  and  whatever 
may  have  been  his  real  object  in  his  opposition  to 
the  admission  of  that  state  into  the  Union,  no  one 
can  deny  but  that  it  fixes  upon  him  his  support  of 
abolition,  notwithstanding  Tom  Ritchie  is  defend 
ing  him  against  such  principles,  among  the  people 
of  the  South.  And  what  is  his  defence  ?  Why, 
that  Van  Buren  has  written  a  letter  to  somebody, 
stating  that  he  was  always  of  the  opinion  that 
66  Congress  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  ques- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  95 

tion  of  slavery,  without  an  alteration  of  the.  con 
stitution^  not  even  if  the  states  would  consent 
to  it." 

Now  Tappan,  Garrison,  and  every  other 
fanatic  and  abolitionist  in  the  United  States,  not 
entirely  run  mad,  will  grant  that,  and  do  grant  it 
every  day;  but  they  are  nevertheless  exerting 
every  power  of  their  minds,  and  every  penny  of 
their  purse,  to  bring  about  emancipation  in  another 
way ;  by  inflaming  and  poisoning  public  opinion 
on  the  subject,  and  then  leave  the  accomplishment 
of  the  work  to  whatever  consequences  such  dis- 
temperature  of  public  sentiment  may  produce, 
even  if  it  should  be  Mr.  Van  Buren's  remedy — an 
alteration  of  the  constitution.  Can  Mr.  Van  Buren 
say  he  is  not  one  of  these  agitators  for  a  political 
purpose  ?  If  he  will  not  answer  the  question,  let 
the  petitions  from  twenty  thousand  memorialists, 
in  the  state  of  New  York,  at  the  last  session  of 
Congress,  answer  it  for  him. 

The  death  of  Tompkins,  Clinton,  and  King,  and 
the  peculiarly  fortunate  turn  which  Van  Buren  had 
given  to  all  the  great  measures  originating  in  the 
course  of  their  public  service,  left  him  the  complete 
master  of  the  great  state  of  New  York.  With  his 
little  platoon  officers,  such  as  Cambreling,  Hamil 
ton,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  and  others  of  like  kidney, 


96  THE   LIFE    OF 

scattered  through  the  state,  commanding  petty  asso 
ciations,  well  organized,  and  all  regulated  like  clock 
work,  by  the  great  central  Regency  at  Albany,  no 
bashaw  with  three  tails  ever  had  his  slaves  under 
more  abject  and  servile  control  than  did  our  little 
magician  the  empire  state  of  New  York.  Having 
gained  all  he  could  well  desire  in  his  own  state,  he 
was  determined  to  put  himself  in  the  market  among 
the  great  federal  politicians.  With  them  he  well 
knew  that  such  a  state  as  New  York  was  not  to  be 
squinted  at ;  and  by  opening  a  house  of  pleasure, 
if  he  could  not  honourably  wed  her  to  some  of  the 
contending  suitors  for  her  favour,  he  had  full  proof 
she  could  suffer  nothing  by  prostitution  ;  and,  foul 
or  fair,  her  embraces  were  ready  for  any  courtier. 
The  two  last  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  closing  term 
of  service  found  a  number  of  competitors  for  his 
high  place.  The  lamented  Loundes,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  had  all  along,  through  this  administration,  been 
looked  to  as  a  fit  successor  to  Mr.  Monroe  ;  but  his 
untimely  death  made  way  for  another  of  Carolina's 
able  sons.  John  C.  Calhoun,  William  H.  Crawford, 
Henry  Clay,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Andre VK. 
Jackson,  were  severally  urged  by  their  friends  as 
the  proper  persons  to  succeed  to  the  presidency. 
Mr.  Calho'un's  able  talents,  and  the  still  more  able 
support  which  he  gave  to  the  war,  that  had  termi- 


MARTIN   VAN  BUREN.  97 

naied  so  gloriously  for  America,  made  him  ex 
tremely  popular  everywhere,  but  more  especially 
with  the  army  and  navy.  He  was  well  known  to 
be  the  particular  favourite  and  confidant  of  the  late 
president  Monroe.  The  great  state  of  Pennsylva 
nia  and  Connecticut  were  ready  to  give  him  their 
support ;  and,  indeed,  his  prospects  were  as  flatter 
ing  as  any  of  the  other  expectants.  But,  being 
much  the  youngest  man,  and  willing  to  secure,  by 
a  longer  probation  of  public  service,  a  higher  claim 
to  such  a  distinguished  honour,  he  very  magnani 
mously  retired  from  the  contest,  and  with  all  his 
great  character,  influence,  and  abilities,  went  over 
to  the  support  of  Andrew  Jackson,  contented  with 
the  evidence  of  public  esteem  and  confidence  in 
the  lower  but  second  office  of  the  government. 
How  this  generous  friendship  has  been  rewarded 
by  General  Jackson  the  sequel  will  show.  This  act 
of  self-denial  and  magnanimity,  exercised  towards 
General  Jackson,  which  immediately  secured  to 
him  the  great  state  of  Pennsylvania,  greatly  in 
creased  the  popularity  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  made 
him  altogether  the  most  prominent  individual  for 
the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  at  a  future  day,  of 
any  whose  pretensions  were  then  before  the  public. 
And  this,  as  will  hereafter  be  shown,  was  readily 
and  most  disquietingly  perceived  by  Martin  Van 
I 


9S  THE   Li   E   OF 

Buren.  Without  his  destruction,  which  was  marked 
by  him,  and  resolved  on,  he  foresaw  that  all  his 
plans  were  liable  to  complete  frustration. 

Among  the  remaining  rivals  for  the  office,  Van 
Buren  made  an  accurate  survey.  He  weighed,  as 
well  as  he  could,  the  prospects  of  each  ;  and  having 
no  other  rule  of  choice  but  that  of  selecting  the 
strongest,  (for  talents,  virtues,  or  principle  made 
no  part  of  his  measure  of  public  functionaries,)  his 
mind  inclined  to  John  Quincy  Adams. 

Jackson's  candidacy  was  so  intolerably  ridiculed 
at  first,  as  having,  from  his  deficient  education,  (a 
good  deal  like  my  own,)  as  well  as  from  a  dissolute 
course  of  life,  no  other  possible  claims  to  such  a 
responsible  station  but  one  single  fortunate  battle, 
he,  nor  any  one  else  of  any  tolerable  discernment, 
ever  dreamed  that  the  American  people,  boasting 
of  their  free  and  enlightened  institutions,  were  so 
lacking  in  self-respect  as  to  manifest  to  the  civilized 
world  how  little  right  they  had  to  brag  of  either, 
by  the  choice  of  such  a  man  to  such  an  office.  He 
therefore  very  promptly  determined  to  have  no 
connexion  with  him,  especially  as  he  was  sup 
ported  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  a  southern  politician,  for 
the  like  of  whom,  at  that  day,  he  had  no  very 
favourable  notions.  Against  Mr.  Crawford,  for  the 
same  reason,  he  entertained  similar  prejudices  ;  but 


MAKTL\  VAN  BUKEN.  99 

how  they  were  afterwards  changed,  we  shall  see 
by-and-by.  As  to  Mr.  Clay,  he  had  taken  up  a 
strong  antipathy,  upon  which  he  bottomed  a  secret 
grudge  for  having  defeated  his  schemes,  whatever 
they  were,  in  effecting  the  compromise  of  the  Mis 
souri  question.  Thus  circumstanced,  he  was  driven, 
not  by  inclination,  but  partly  by  necessity  and 
partly  by  the  belief  that  Adams  was  the  strongest 
man,  to  his  support.  This  determination  of  his, 
he  was  gradually  and  cautiously  leaking  out  to  his 
cohorts,  but  taking  care  to  keep  himself  within  the 
line  of  a  safe  retreat,  if  matters  and  things  should 
require  it  Just  as  he  was  about  to  give  the  open 
order  for  New  York  to  strike  for  Adams,  one  of 
those  singular  manoeuvres  for  which  he  himself  is 
signally  famed,  occasioned  him  to  change  the  whole 
front  of  his  column,  and  it  was  wheeled  and  march 
ed  in  another  direction.  Mr.  Crawford,  who  had 
a  comprehensive  eye,  and  could  read  men  as  well 
as  any  other  politician,  had  long  seen,  from  Van 
Buren's  success  with  the  immense  population  of 
New  York,  against  talents  and  influence  far  supe 
rior  to  his  own,  that  his  inordinate  ambition  could 
be  made  extremely  useful  to  him.  He,  therefore, 
being  at  the  head  of  a  dominant  and  powerful  party 
in  Georgia,  resolved  upon  a  stroke,  unseemly  and 
out  of  joint  as  it  might  and  did  appear,  to  win  to 


THE   LIFE    OF 

his  support  the  state  of  New  York.  This  appa 
rently  ridiculous  project  was  none  other  than  the 
nomination  of  Van  Buren  for  the  vice-presidency, 
by  the  state  of  Georgia.  Crawford  was  as  much 
the  dictator  of  his  own  state  as  Van  Buren  was  of 
New  York,  and  his  order  was  no  sooner  given  than 
obeyed.  Van  was  nominated  by  the  Crawford 
party,  amidst  the  downcast  looks  of  every  honest 
man  in  the  country,  but  under  the  loud  and  re 
peated  shouts  of  laughter  from  what  was  called  the 
Clark  party.  The  whole  affair  assumed  the  charac 
ter  of  a  good  joke;  and  long  and  cruelly  did  the 
Clark  party  use  it  as  such  against  their  opponents. 
The  thing  appeared  so  barefaced,  so  ill-timed,  so 
wanting  in  respect  for  public  opinion,  decidedly 
made  up  against  such  a  bargaining  and  prostituted 
politician,  as  well  as  agaiifst  his  limited  capacity 
and  more  humble  services,  that  "Vice-president 
Van  Buren"  became  a  term  of  the  most  ineffable 
ridicule :  it  was  bandied  at  every  corner :  the 
Clark  men  lathered  the  Crawfordites  with  it  at 
every  turn ;  whether  they  held  their  faces  ^^p  or 
down  or  sideways,  slash  went  the  daub,  up  to  their 
eyes,  into  their  ears,  or  down  to  their  throats. 

As  I  have  before  stated,  in  the  general  assembly 
of  the  state,  where  the  Crawford  party  had  the 
ascendency,  and  of  course,  elected  all  the  officers 


MARTIN  VA*   DiaiUN..-  JQ1 

out  of  their  ^own  party,  the  Clarkites,  being  in  the 
minority,  kept  Van  Buren  as  their  standing  can 
didate  for  all  the  lowest  order  of  appointments, 
such  as  door-keeper,  dog-whipper,  trip-trotter,  and 
the  like ;  and  it  was  amusing  to  see  and  hear  the 
tickets  exhibited  and  read  out  on  such  occasions. 
They  had  Van  Buren  caricatured  on  them  in 
every  possible  form — half  man  and  half  cat,  half 
fox  and  half  monkey,  half  snake  and  half  mink, 
always  designating  him  by  some  animal  that  most 
resembled  his  traits  of  character.  The  tickets 
would  contain  something  like  this :  "  Vice-presi 
dent  Van  Buren  for  door-keeper,"  "  Whiskey 
Van,"  u  Blue  whiskey  Van,"  "Little  Van,"  and 
many  others,  too  tedious  to  mention. 
•  The  gentle  reader  may  think  that  this  is  a  wanton 
slander  upon  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  a  very  unmerited 
reproach  upon  a  large  and  highly  respectable  party 
in  Georgia,  to  wit,  the  Clark  party.  By-the-by, 
I  do  not  think  them  half  as  much  reproached,  by 
telling  these  facts,  as  the  party  that  nominated  Van 
Buren.  But  to  put  this  matter  out  of  all  doubt,  I 
will  place  myself  under  this  obligation  to  the  reader 
and  the  general  community,  that,  if  the  remains  of 
the  old  Clark  party  (if  it  now  exists  in  that  form) 
will  not  themselves  say  that  every  statement  I  have 
made  of  this  matter  is  substantially  true,  I  am  will- 
i  2 


102  THE  LIFE  OF 

ing  to  stand  branded  with  the  name  and  character 
of  a  calumniator,  and  wholly  unworthy  of  any  credit 
for  any  thing  I  have  said  in  the  whole  life  of  Van 
Buren.  I  hope  this  will  satisfy  every  caviller. 

I  have  been  minute,  and  perhaps  somewhat 
tediously  particular,  in  this  part  of  my  narrative ; 
but  I  have  two  objects  in  it, — First,  To  show  the 
miserable  contempt  with  which  the  nomination  of 
Van  Buren,  even  for  the  office  of  vice-president, 
was  received  everywhere,  but  especially  in  Geor 
gia,  where  a  vote  for  president  is  confidently  calcu 
lated  upon  for  him,  through  the  influence  of  Mr. 
Forsyth  and  Judge  Wayne ;  and  further,  to  ask 
the  serious  question,  what  has  Van  Buren  done, 
since  that  time,  to  entitle  him  to  the  first  office  of 
the  world,  when  everybody  believed  he  would 
have  disgraced  the  only  sinecure  one  we  have  in 
our  government — the  only  one  without  responsi- 
t  ility,  perfectly  mechanical,  requiring  no  judgment, 
and  which  any  member  of  senate  can  and  does  fill, 
without  any  difficulty,  when  called  to  the  chair  ? 
Second,  It  is  said  the  Clark  party,  in  the  face  of 
all  the  facts  I  have  mentioned,  as  well  as  against 
their  notorious  opposition  to  him  in  the  last  elec 
tion  for  the  same  office,  in  which  they  had  an 
organized  ticket  against  him,  are  now  about  to 
support  this  same  Van  Buren,  then  only  fit  for  a 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

door-keeper,  for  the  high  and  distinguished  office 
of  president  of  the  United  States !  I  cannot  be 
lieve  it  till  I  see  it.  I  know  the  operations  that 
are  going  on  in  Georgia,  and  in  its  proper  place 
will  reveal  them  to  the  reader.  They  will  not 
succeed  :  but  if  they  do,  it  will  prove  what  I  said 
in  my  preface,  that  men  will  adhere  to  certain 
principles  no  longer  than  they  serve  a  selfish  pur 
pose,  and  that  to-morrow  they  will  assume  their 
"  dead  opposite,"  to  undo  what  was  done  yester 
day,  for,  as  they  then  said,  the  public  good.  More 
of  this  hereafter. 

The  scheme  of  Mr.  Crawford  succeeded  ;  it 
detached  Van  Buren  from  Adams ;  and  from  that 
day  down,  he  was  the  fast  friend  of  Crawford,  in 
the  true  New  York  style  of  trickery,  to  the  day 
of  his  death. 

The  result  of  that  election  is  well  known.  Mr. 
Adams  carried  the  day ;  and  a  most  shameful  and 
unfounded  clamour  was  set  up,  that  he  had  suc 
ceeded  by  a  corrupt  bargain  with  Mr.  Clay.  There 
were  but  three  candidates  before  the  House.  Mr. 
Crawford's  health  and  mind  had  given  way,  so 
much  so,  that  for  years  after  this  event,  his  best 
friends  declared  that  his  election  to  the  presidency 
would  have  been  a  calamity  to  the  country ;  and 
those  that  urged  his  pretensions,  under  a  know 


104  THE  LIFE  OF 

ledge  of  his  situation,  incurred  a  reproach  from 
which  they  have  not  as  yet  been  wholly  relieved. 
How,  then,  could  Mr.  Clay  have  been  expected  to 
put  upon  the  people  a  president  prostrated  in  body 
and  mind  ?  He  was  then  left  to  choose  between 
Jackson  and  Adams.  The  very  proposition  itself 
is  enough  to  secure  for  the  integrity  of  his  course 
and  his  motives  the  most  convincing  proof.  No 
man,  who  knew  any  thing  of  the  abilities  and 
morals  of  the  two  characters,  can  hold  up  his  head 
for  a  moment,  and  say  that  such  a  statesman  as 
Mr.  Clay  should  have  supported  General  Jackson 
in  preference  to  Mr.  Adams.  It  is  one  of  those 
self-evident  kind  of  cases  upon  which  the  mind  can 
not  reason  without  surrendering  its  honesty ;  and 
when  that  is  required,  you  must  go  to  some  other 
man  than  to  Mr.  Clay.  Such  kind  of  loose  virtue 
belongs  to  Amos  Kendall,  Francis  P.Blair,  William 
B.  Lewis,  and  Isaac  Hill ;  men  who  take  all  sorts 
of  ways,  but  that  of  honesty,  to  effect  their  objects, 
and  then  abuse  every  one  else  who  will  not  do  the 
same  things. 

The  election  over,  in  which  Mr.  Calhoun  and 
his  able  South  Carolina  coadjutors  had  taken  a 
decided  part  for  General  Jackson,  parties  began  to 
form  again.  The  very  astonishing  vote  which 
General  Jackson  had  obtained,  made  Van  Buren 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  105 

and  his  friends  stare  as  if  they  had  been  shot  at. 
He  now  found  he  had,  for  a  wonder,  made  a  great 
miscalculation ;  but  he  knew  it  could  easily  be 
repaired,  by  enlisting  his  great  state,  for  the  next 
campaign,  in  favour  of  Jackson.  This  was  ren 
dered  the  more  plausible  from  the  misfortune 
which  had  attended  his  own  favourite,  who,  of 
course,  was  withdrawn  from  further  competition- 
Add  to  this,  Mr.  Clay,  whose  great  talents  and 
virtue  he  both  envied  and  dreaded,  was  now,  from 
necessity  and  duty,  connected  with  the  political 
fate  of  Mr.  Adams ;  and  therefore  he  could  hope 
for  nothing  from  a  quarter  where  his  character  was 
so  well  known,  and  where  he  had  every  reason  to 
believe  he  could  neither  be  treated  with  civility  or 
trusted  with  safety.  Jackson,  of  course,  was  his 
next  man,  but  not  until  late  in  the  action. 

He  had,  however,  no  doubt  much  to  his  morti 
fication,  to  play  second  fiddle  to  Mr.  Calhoun  in 
the  approaching  contest;  for  this  last  gentleman 
stood  deservedly  high  with  General  Jackson, 
whose  political  fortunes  he  had  done  more  to 
elevate  than  any  other  living  man.  The  work 
went  on,  the  battle  raged ;  Calhoun,  with  his  field- 
marshals,  Hamilton,  Hayne,  and  McDufEe,  exert 
ing  every  nerve,  and  found  everywhere  in  the 
thickest  of  the  open  affray,  while  little  Van,  as  he 


106  THE  LIFE  OF 

is  wont,  performed  all  the  spying,  sapping  and 
mining  operations  of  the  war.  When  the  firing 
ceased,  and  the  smoke  had  rolled  away  from  the 
field  of  the  engagement,  the  ground  was  found 
strewed  with  the  dead  bodies  of  Jackson's  ene 
mies,  and  he  was  loudly  hailed  as  the  victorious 
champion:  to  him  it  was  another  New  Orleans 
accident. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  1Q7 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IN  organizing  his  cabinet,  Jackson  had  much 
difficulty,  for  every  man  in  the  nation,  high  and 
low,  with  an  exception  which  will  presently  be 
mentioned,  wanted  an  office ;  and  they  flocked 
around  him  for  their  reward.  His  South  Carolina 
friends  magnanimously  retired,  and  promptly  re 
fused  place :  they  had  higher  motives  than  personal 
considerations  :  the  principles  avowed  by  Jackson 
were  the  principles  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  they  were 
the  principles  of  the  South,  without  which  they 
never  wrould  have  entered  into  the  Union,  and 
without  which  they  believe  the  Union  will  not 
endure :  these  they  expected  to  foster  and  perma 
nently  settle  in  the  administration  of  General  Jack 
son,  and  that  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  to  whom  everybody 
looked,  confirmed  by  his  most  triumphant  election 
as  vice-president,  as  his  successor. 

After  the  most  anxious,  and  at  one  time  almost 
hopeless  consultation,  the  cabinet  was  formed ; 
Martin  Van  Buren,  then  recently  made  governor 
of  the  great  state  of  New  York,  being  at  its  head. 


10$  THE   LIFE    OF 

in  the  high   and   honourable  office  of  secretary 
of  state. 

His  governor's  station  was  speedily  relinquished; 
for  there  was  nothing  after  which  he  panted  more 
ardently  than  to  be  placed  at  the  EAR  of  so  credu 
lous  an  old  man  as  Andrew  Jackson,  possessing,  as 
he  did,  more  growing  power  and  popularity  than 
any  other  man  then  figuring  0n  the  face  of  the 
globe.  It  was  every  thing  to  him  ;  and  unless  an 
honest  community  will  open  their  eyes  to  the  dan 
gerous  and  thickening  plots  that  are  fast  ripening 
around  them,  it  will  land  him  in  that  exalted  station, 
to  the  attainment  of  which,  in  the  last  ten  years, 
he  has  bent  all  the  powers  of  his  political  necro 
mancy. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  evil  genius  of  Van  Buren  ; 
and  although  he  pretended  for  this  gentleman  the 
utmost  friendship,  yet  he  was  secretly,  and  had 
been  artfully,  laying  his  plans  to  destroy  him. 
He  saw  full  well  that  Mr.  Calhoun  was  not  only 
the  favourite  of  General  Jackson,  but  of  the  whole 
nation ;  and  that  the  firm,  bold,  and  adventurous 
stand  which  he  had  taken  for  the  war,  the  splen 
dour  with  which  it  terminated,  the  repeated  token 
of  their  confidence  in  his  election  of  vice-president, 
had,  altogether,  so  firmly  rooted  him  in  their  affec 
tions,  that  nothing  but  the  most  extraordinary 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  1()9 

reverses  could  keep  him  from  the  executive  chair. 
To  effect  this,  however,  or  perish  himself  in  the 
attempt,  he  was  fully  resolved.  The  most  effectual 
way  of  succeeding  was  to  separate  him  from  Gene 
ral  Jackson.  If  he  could  once  destroy  General 
Jackson's  confidence  in  him,  he  was  well  aware 
he  could  enlist  all  that  old  man's  prejudices  and 
strong  passions  against  him,  and  consequently 
direct  the  whole  current  of  Jackson's  popularity, 
great  from  his  military  achievements,  but  greater 
from  his  power  and  patronage,  to  his  unavoidable 
overthrow.  That  he  has  too  well  succeeded,  is 
denied  by  no  one. 

This  deep,  dark,  and  assassin-like  plot  was  ef 
fected  in  the  following  manner.  I  shall  briefly 
relate  the  facts,  and  then  submit  the  proof,  which, 
in  my  humble  opinion,  must  convince  every 
honourable  and  candid  man,  and  occasion  feelings 
the  most  revolting  at  the  detestable  act,  who  is  not 
wholly  swallowed  up  in  impious  adoration  of  Gene 
ral  Jackson  and  his  appointed  successor,  Martin 
Van  Buren. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  well  knew  what  an  influence 
he  held  over  William  H.  Crawford,  by  reason  of 
having  so  zealously  served  him  in  his  views  upon 
the  presidency;  and  he  further  knew  that  there 

was  the  most  deadly  feud  between  him  and  Mr. 
K 


HO  THE   LIFE    OF 

Calhoun.  Recollecting  that  Mr.  Crawford  was  one 
of  Mr.  Monroe's  cabinet  ministers  with  Mr.  Cal 
houn,  he  shrewdly  suspected  that  in  some  of  the 
cabinet's  secret  consultations — and  it  was  well 
known  they  had  many,  concerning  General  Jack 
son's  conduct  during  the  Seminole  war,  and  the 
capture  of  Florida — Calhoun  had  said  or  done 
something  calculated  to  wound  the  feelings  or 
military  pride  of  Jackson,  about  which  he  was 
more  sensitive  than  all  other  things  together,  he 
determined  to  ferret  it  out,  if  possible,  and  bring 
it  to  the  knowledge  of  General  Jackson.  He  also 
believed,  as  Mr.  Crawford  had  lost  his  mind,  in  a 
great  degree,  there  would  be  no  great  difficulty  in 
making  him  reveal  the  secrets  of  the  cabinet ;  and 
where  they  might  be  deficient  for  his  purpose,  by 
an  artful  training  of  an  impaired  intellect,  lead  it  to 
whatever  conclusion  he  desired. 

With  these  abominable  intentions,  he  and  his 
little  lieutenant,  C.  C.  Cambreling,  posted  off  to 
Georgia,  directly  after  the  adjournment  of  Con 
gress,  in  March,  1827,  (I  again  ask  the  reader  to 
mark  well  the  dates,)  on  a  visit  to  his  friend,  Mr. 
Crawford,  with  the  pretended  design  of  ascertain 
ing  whether  his  health  would  admit  of  his  running 
once  more  for  the  presidency.  Down  to  this  period, 
then,  according  to  his  own  confession,  General 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

Jackson  ought  to  see  that  Van  Buren  was  no  friend 
of  his.  He  arrived  at  Mr.  Crawford's  about  the 
middle  of  April ;  and,  realizing  his  full  expecta 
tions,  he  there  learned  that  in  the  cabinet  discus 
sions  of  1818,  (nine  years  before,}  Mr.  Calhoun 
had  censured  the  conduct  of  General  Jackson,  and 
had  actually  spoken  of  punishing  or  reprehending 
him  for  taking  Florida  from  the  Spaniards  without 
orders.  This  was  enough  for  the  genius  of  the 
little  magician  :  arrangements  were  settled :  Cal- 
houn's  election  for  vice-president  was  to  be  de 
feated,  if  possible ;  but  if  that  could  not  be  effected, 
then  the  facts  just  disclosed  were  to  be  retained 
and  used  in  poisoning  General  Jackson's  mind 
towards  Calhoun,  as  soon  as  Mr.  Van  Buren  could 
himself  acquire  the  confidence  of  the  old  chieftain ; 
and  this  he  expected  to  do  by  going  in  directly  for 
him,  soul  and  body,  for  the  presidency. 

Mr.  Crawford  commenced  writing  to  his  friends 
in  the  western  states,  with  a  view  to  get  them  to 
use  their  influence  to  drop  Mr.  Calhoun  for  vice- 
president,  upon  the  ground,  among  several  others, 
that  Calhoun  was  unfriendly  to  Jackson.  His 
first  letter  was  to  Alfred  Balch,  Esq.  of  Tennessee, 
dated  14th  of  December,  1827.  He  let  him  know 
that  Van  Buren  and  Cambreling  had  been  to  see 
him,  and  he  had  authorized  them  to  spread  his 


"HE   LIFE    OF 

opinions  on  the  approaching  election.  One  other 
of  these  letters,  addressed  to  George  W.  Campbell, 
Esq.  dated  in  1828,  came  to  the  view  of  General 
Daniel  Newnan,  a  particular  friend  of  both  Gene 
ral  Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  happened  to  be 
then  at  Nashville ;  and  seeing  that  a  most  infamous 
plot  was  on  foot  to  destroy  the  latter,  by  blasting 
the  friendship  that  existed  between  him  and  Gene 
ral  Jackson,  wrote  immediately,  on  the  8th  of  Janu 
ary,  1829,  to  Wilson  Lumpkin,  Esq.  then  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  from  Georgia,  at  Washington  city, 
apprizing  him  of  the  designs  of  Mr.  Crawford  and 
others  to  destroy  the  friendly  relations  between 
General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  enclosed  a 
copy  of  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  to  Balch. 

On  the  27th  of  January,  1829,  upon  the  receipt 
of  General  Newnan's  letter,  Mr.  Lumpkin  ad 
dressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  enclosing  an  extract 
from  Newnan's  communication,  and  informed  him 
of  what  was  going  on. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  at  the  date  of  New- 
nan's  and  Lumpkin's  letters  above  mentioned,  the 
election  was  over,  and  Jackson  and  Calhoun  fully 
ascertained  to  have  been  elected ;  and  therefore, 
their  letters  were  not  so  much  to  caution  Mr.  Cal 
houn  as  to  the  intrigues  going  on  against  him  con 
cerning  his  election,  they  having  failed ;  but  to  put 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  H3 

him  upon  his  guard  as  to  the  further  and  other  part 
of  the  plot,  of  ruining  him  in  the  confidence  of 
General  Jackson. 

We  now  come  to  the  other  part  of  the  plot. 
When  Van  Buren  returned  from  visiting  Mr.  Craw 
ford  in  Georgia,  he  directly  communicated  the 
intelligence  he  had  received  in  that  visit,  to  James 
A.  Hamilton,  one  of  the  most  active,  ready,  long- 
tried,  indefatigable  friends  and  partisans,  as  every 
body  knows,  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  from  his  first 
entrance  upon  the  stage  of  politics  to  the  present 
hour.  Thereupon  a  plan  was  arranged,  which  was, 
that  Hamilton  should  possess  himself  of  the  same 
information  from  Mr.  Crawford,  or  from  some 
friend  of  Mr.  Crawford's,  with  a  view  to  convey 
it  to  the  president's  ears,  taking  care  to  keep  Mr. 
Van  Buren  entirely  out  of  the  scrape.  Accord 
ingly,  Hamilton  either  wrote  or  went  to  Mr.  For- 
sy  th,  and  brought  to  his  mind  the  subject  in  relation 
10  the  cabinet  proceedings  on  the  Seminole  war;  and 
wound  up  the  business  by  requesting  Mr.  Forsyth 
to  get  a  statement  in  writing,  from  Mr.  Crawford, 
of  the  transactions  as  they  actually  occurred.  It 
seems  Mr.  Crawford  had  also  related  to  his  friend, 
Mr.  Forsyth,  the  same  facts  he  had  communicated 
to  Mr.  Van  Buren :  and  the  reader  ought  to  be 
reminded  that  Mr.  Forsyth  is  a  very  great  friend 
K  2 


THE   LIFE   OF 

of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  expects  to  hold  office  under 
him,  promises  him  the  vote  of  Georgia ;  and  there 
is  a  sneaking  report  that  he  anxiously  looks  towards 
the  great  state  of  New  York  to  help  to  put  him  in 
the  chair,  when  Van  is  done  with  it.  Mr.  Forsyth 
makes  a  statement  to  Mr.  Hamilton  of  what  Mr. 
Crawford  had  told  him;  but  lest  it  should  not  be 
correct,  he  put  the  statement  in  writing,  and,  on 
the  16th  of  April,  1830,  encloses  it  to  Mr.  Craw 
ford,  and  requests  him  to  say  whether  it  is  correct. 
Now  the  reader  will  doubtless  perceive  the  plot 
thickening. 

Mr.  Crawford,  on  the  30th  of  April,  1830,  re 
turns  for  answer,  that  the  statement,  with  but  one 
exception,  is  correct,  and  that  Mr.  Forsyth  was  at 
liberty  to  show  the  same  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  by  way 
of  giving  to  the  affair  great  fairness  and  openness, 
as  it  was  about  to  be  used — for  what  purpose  ?  Ah, 
there's  the  rub  !  Can  any  man  in  his  sober  senses 
imagine  any  earthly  reason  for  the  using  of  this 
letter,  over  and  beyond  that  of  serving  some  dark, 
malignant,  and  murderous  purpose  ?  That  it  had 
a  motive,  an  object,  no  one  can  deny.  Then  what 
was  that  motive,  what  was  that  object  ?  Was  it  a 
virtuous  one,  an  honourable  and  benevolent  one  ? 
Why  will  not  Mr.  Hamilton  and  Forsyth  name  it? 
Why  was  it  necessary  to  make  an  old  man,  im- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  H5 

paired  in  his  mind  and  memory,  reveal  the  secrets 
of  a  cabinet — secrets  that  had  rested  unknown  for 
eleven  years,  and  had  nearly  passed  away  from  the 
recollection  of  all  concerned  ;  after,  too,  the  two 
great  personages  whose  peace  they  were  seeking 
to  disturb,  had  contracted  the  warmest  friendships, 
had  nobly  served  each  other,  had  never  dreamed 
that  any  of  their  public  acts  or  opinions,  in  which, 
doubtless,  they  had  both  acted  honestly  and  con 
scientiously  in  'their  avowal,  could  be  so  tortured 
as  to  furnish  materials  for  a  conspiracy  ?  That  such 
conspiracy  should  end  in  a  rupture  of  their  long 
standing  affections,  destroy  the  confidence  between 
them,  and,  what  is  ten  thousand  times  worse,  re 
move  the  same  confidence  and  affections  from  the 
bosom  of  one  of  the  parties,  to  a  secret  enemy,  a 
designing  adversary,  and  at  last  and  best,  but  an 
uncertain  and  an  eleventh-hour  friend. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  arrived,  instead 
of  showing  it  to  Mr.  Calhoun  first,  as  directed t 
that  he  might  probe  into  the  matter,  and  ascertain, 
if  he  could,  how  it  came  to  be  written,  how  gotten 
up,  and  by  whom,  for  what  purpose,  and  that  he 
might  have  a  friendly  interview  with  General 
Jackson,  to  show  how  he  wras  about  to  be  imposed 
upon,  it  was  carried  with  unusual  expedition  to 
General  Jackson ;  and  he,  ever  ready  upon  excited 


THE   LIFE   OF 

feelings,  which  are  as  easily  aroused  as  a  tiger's,  was 
instantly  persuaded  to  communicate  it  to  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  in  a  cold,  stiff,  formal  letter,  evidently  writ 
ten  in  a  temper  of  smothered  resentment,  and  only 
civil  from  an  avised  regard  for  his  official  station. 
From  such  a  letter,  the  artful  managers  were  well 
satisfied  air  prospects  of  a  conciliation  would  be 
come  perfectly  hopeless.  It  was  a  committal  from 
which  there  was  no  escape ;  and  being  the  first 
vent  through  which  the  purposely  inflamed  revenge 
of  a  passionate  old  man  was  tearing  its  way,  they 
knew  one  could  as  soon  have  stopped  a  man  half 
down  the  falls  of  Niagara  as  to  have  stopped  the 
furious  current  of  his  anger. 

As  was  expected,  the  reply  was  not  only  unsatis 
factory,  but  confirmed  the  old  man's  newly-created 
convictions,  that  Mr.  Calhoun  had  been  a  wolf  in 
sheep's  clothing,  had  attempted  to  tarnish  his  mili 
tary  glory,  had  secretly  aimed  a  deadly  blow  at  his 
reputation  ;  and  feeling  an  increased  provocation, 
he  soon,  to  the  unspeakable  joy  of  his  brutal  de 
ceivers,  cut  short  all  further  correspondence  or 
intercourse  with  Mr.  Calhoun,  stating,  to  use  his 
own  language,  "  understanding  you  now,  no  fur 
ther  communication  is  necessary." 

The  infamous  work  was  finished,  and  everybody 
knows  what  a  bitter  and  daily-increasing  animosity 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  H7 

it  has  engendered  in  the  bosom  of  General  Jackson 
against  one  of  the  best  and  most  serviceable  friends 
he  ever  had  in  his  whole  private  or  political  life. 
It  is  even  thought  and  said  by  some,  that  his  un 
natural  resentment  against  his  own  native  state 
was  to  goad  it  into  rebellion,  that  he  might  glut  his 
revenge  upon  some  of  her  favourite  sons,  for  what 
he  considered  a  triple  crime,  unholiness  to  him, 
\indutifulness  to  the  heir-apparent,  and  ungra 
ciousness  to  the  kitchen  cabinet. 


THE   LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

HAVING  made  the  statements  of  this  remorseless 
intrigue,  I  proceed  to  submit  the  proofs,  remarking, 
that  if  I  should  be  a  little  tedious  on  this  point,  I 
hope  I  shall  be  excused,  for  I  have  a  double  object 
in  view,  not  only  to  expose  the  machinations  of 
one  of  the  greatest  intriguants  in  the  world,  but  to 
show  to  the  American  people  how  much  and  how 
long  they  have  suffered  one  of  her  most  patriotic, 
virtuous,  and  talented  statesmen,  who  has  done  as 
much  service  for  his  country  as  any  other,  to  be 
injured  and  abused,  to  be  traduced  in  character, 
and  murdered  in  feelings ;  and  all  to  gratify  the 
caprices  of  a  deceived  old  man,  and  to  elevate  the 
political  fortunes  of  his  selfish  and  insidious  de 
ceiver. 

In  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  to  Balch,  dated  14th 
December,  1827,  after  he  had  his  interview  with 
Van  Buren  and  Cambreling,  in  the  previous  April, 
he  says,  "  My  opinions  upon  the  next  presidential 
election  are  generally  known.  When  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  Mr.  Cambreling  made,  me  a  visit,  last 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  H9 

rfpril,  I  authorized  them  upon  every  proper  occa 
sion  to  make  these  opinions  known.  The  vote  of 
the  state  of  Georgia  will,  as  certainly  as  that  of 
Tennessee,  be  given  to  General  Jackson,  in  oppo 
sition  to  Mr.  Adams.  The  only  difficulty  that  this 
state  has  upon  this  subject,  is,  that  if  Jackson  should 
be  elected,  Calhoun  will  come  into  power.  I  con 
fess,  I  am  not  apprehensive  of  such  a  result ;  for 

writes  me,  [who  is  this  Mr.  Blank  ?] 

'  Jackson  ought  to  know,  and  if  he  does  not,  he 
shall  know,  that,  at  the  Calhoun  caucus,  in  Colum 
bia,  the  term  Military  Chieftain  was  bandied  about 
more  flippantly  than  by  H.  Clay,  and  that  the 
family  friends  of  Mr.  Calhoun  were  most  active  in 
giving  it  currency.'  '  Mr.  Crawford  concludes 
this  letter  by  saying,  "  If  you  can  ascertain  that 
Calhoun  will  not  be  benefited  by  Jackson's  elec 
tion,  you  will  do  him  a  benefit  by  communicating 
the  information  to  me." 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  numerous  letters 
addressed  by  Mr.  Crawford  to  his  friends  in  every 
direction,  and  occasioned  General  Newnan's  letter 
to  Mr.  Lumpkin,  of  the  8th  of  January,  1829,  in 
which  he  says,  "  W.  H.  C.  has  done  Mr.  Calhoun 
a  great  deal  of  injury,  as  well  by  his  private  machi 
nations  as  his  extensive  correspondence.  In  addi 
tion  to  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Balch,  a 


120  THE  LIFE  OF 

copy  of  which  I  now  enclose  you,  (and  which  has 
been  seen  by  General  Jackson,)  [mark  that,  reader!] 
he,  a  short  time  since,  wrote  a  letter  to  G.  W. 
Campbell,  proposing  that  Tennessee  should  vote 
for  a  third  person  for  the  vice-presidency,  and 
requested  Mr.  Campbell  to  show  the  letter  to 
General  Jackson.  I  hope  Mr.  Calhoun  will  take 
the  earliest  opportunity  of  seeing  General  J.  and 
putting  all  things  straight ;  for  I  cannot  believe,  for 
one  moment,  the  allegations  of  W.  H.  C." 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Lumpkin  received  the  above 
letter,  he  communicated  it  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  a 
letter  dated  on  the  27th  of  the  same  month,  and, 
among  other  things,  remarks,  "  I  am  confident,  the 
best  interest  of  our  common  country  requires,  not 
only  the  harmonious  and  patriotic  union  of  the  two 
first  officers  of  the  government,  but  of  every  patri 
otic  citizen  of  the  whole  country,  to  frown  indig 
nantly  upon  all  intriguers,  managers,  political 
jugglers,  and  selfish  politicians  of  every  descrip 
tion,  who  are  disposed  to  divide  and  conquer" 
[Ah,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  disposed  "  to  divide  and 
conquer  !" — he  does  not  go  for  the  doctrine  "about 
this  time,"  as  the  Almanac  would  say.]  Mr 
Lumpkin  continues,  (and  I  beg  the  reader  to  pay 
particular  attention  to  his  sayings,  for  rumour  states 
that  Mr.  Lumpkin  is  about  to  go  along  with  some 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  121 

of  these  same  "political  jugglers,"  concerning 
which  I  have  something  to  say  hereafter ;)  "  I  feel 
the  more  at  liberty  and  authorized  to  make  this 
communication,  because  I  know,  of  my  own  know 
ledge,  you  and  your  friends  are  misrepresented 
on  this  subject.  However,  General  Jackson  him 
self  must  see  and  know  the  object  of  these  shallow 
efforts.  I  do  not  know  one  conspicuous  friend  of 
yours,  but  what  has  constantly,  zealously,  and  uni 
formly  supported  General  Jackson,  from  the  day 
that  Pennsylvania  declared  in  his  favour  to  the 
present  time.  How,  then,  can  it  be  possible  that 
General  Jackson  can  suspect  the  friendship,  con 
stancy,  or  sincerity  of  you  or  your  friends  ?  No, 
he  cannot,  he  will  not,  he  does  not.  I  have  quite 
too  much  confidence  in  the  General  to  believe 
such  idle  tales.  Nevertheless,  it  is  proper  for  you 
and  him  both  to  be  apprized  of  the  machinations 
of  the  mischievous.  You  are  at  liberty  to  use  this 
communication  in  any  way  you  please." 

The  reader  will  doubtless  perceive  that  Mr. 
Lumpkin  is  of  the  opinion  that  more  persons,  be 
sides  Mr.  Crawford,  are  concerned  in  this  intrigue, 
by  various  expressions  in  his  letter,  but  particu 
larly  the  words  "  intriguers,  managers,  political 
jugglers,  and  selfish  politicians."  Mr.  Crawford 
could  not  do  all  Lumpkin  forewarns  Mr.  Calhoun 
L 


1 2%  THE    LIFE    OF 

of,  by  himself.  Now,  who  are  these  jugglers  ? 
Mr.  Crawford  tells  Mr.  Balch  that  Van  Burcn  and 
Cambrcling  have  been  with  him,  and  have  autho 
rity  to  spread  his  opinions ;  we  shall  see,  in  the 
further  prosecution  of  the  subject,  that  no  one  but 
them  and  their  most  particular  friends  are  found 
connected  with  Mr.  Crawford,  and  no  one  served 
or  benefited  by  the  intrigue  but  them,  or  rather, 
Martin  Van  Buren.  Now  it  would  be  very  strange 
that  a  plot  should  be  gotten  up  for  somebody  else, 
who  never  appears  in  any  part  of  its  progress,  who, 
in  its  beginning,  continuance,  and  ending,  is  en 
tirely  lost  sight  of,  and  that  finally,  and  altogether 
by  accident,  it  results  wholly  in  favour  of  another 
person  !  The  most  diseased  credulity  cannot  stand 
this.  The  question,  '  For  whose  good  ?'  will  rush 
into  the  mind  ;  and  when  we  see  *  for  whose  good,' 
and  also  see  this  character  frequently  flitting  across 
the  scenes  while  the  plot  is  going  on,  now  prompt 
ing  an  actor,  then  dropping  a  curtain,  human  na 
ture,  weak  and  wicked  as  it  is,  cannot  be  made  to 
believe  he  has  no  hand  in  the  murder. 

The  first  appearance  of  Mr.  Forsyth  (unfortu 
nately  a  most  intimate  and  particular  friend  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren's)  in  this  business,  is  to  be  found  in 
Mr.  Crawford's  letter  to  him,  of  the  30th  of  April, 
1830,  giving  the  account  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  treachery 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  123 

to  General  Jackson,  in  which  he  says,  "  YOUR  LET 
TER  OF  THE  16TH  was  received  by  Sunday's  mail, 
together  with  its  ENCLOSURE."  Now,  as  we  are 
drawing  to  the  close  of  the  play,  where  the  blood 
and  fuss  takes  place,  I  beg  the  reader  to  keep  his 
eyes  wide  awake,  and  he  will  see  how  completely 
this  nasty  affair  points  to  the  little  magician  as  its 
contriver  and  finisher.  Things,  down  to  this  time, 
being  previously  all  well  arranged,  Mr.  Crawford 
is  addressed,  and  thus  he  answers  Mr.  Forsyth  and 
his  enclosure:  "  I  recollect  having  conversed  with 
you  at  the  time  and  place,  and  upon  the  subject  in 
that  enclosure  stated  ;  [where,  and  for  what  pur 
pose  ?  the  reader  will  naturally  inquire.  It  was  a 
very  old  transaction  !]  but  I  have  not  a  distinct 
recollection  of  what  I  said  to  you,  but  I  am  certain 
there  is  one  error  in  your  statement  of  that  conver 
sation  to  Mr. .  [who  is  this  Mr.  Blank  ?]  I 

recollect  distinctly  [only  eleven  years  had  passed, 
and  during  part  of  that  time  he  had  laboured  under 
a  long  and  most  dangerous  spell  of  sickness,  that 
seized  and  left  his  mind  impaired]  what  passed  in 
the  cabinet  meeting  referred  to  in  your  letter  to  Mr. 

.    [Who,  I  repeat,  is  this  Mr.  Blank  ?  is  it 

the  same  Blank  above  ?  I  insist  upon  it.  we  ought 
to  have  a  handbill  of  all  the  players ;  we  cannot 
understand  the  play  without.]  Mr.  Calhoun's  pro- 


124  THE  LIFE  OF 

position  in  the  cabinet  was,  that  General  Jackson 
should  be  punished  in  some  form,  or  reprehended 
in  some  form ;  I  am  not  positively  certain  which. 
[Though  he  has  a  "  distinct  recollection"  of  what 
passed  in  the  cabinet.]  As  Mr.  Calhoun  did  not 
propose  to  arrest  General  Jackson,  I  feel  confident 
that  I  could  not  have  made  use  of  the  word  in  my 
relation  to  you  of  the  circumstances  which  trans 
pired  in  the  cabinet." 

I  wonder  if  the  reader  can  be  so  shallow  as  not 
to  perceive  the  reason  for  all  this  wonderful  par 
ticularity — this  singular  exactness  in  telling  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 
I  feel  surprised  that  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Crawford 
should  think  his  credibility  needed  any  such  prop 
ping  ;  but  doubtless  he  acted  under  advisement ; 
for  Mr.  Crawford,  though  an  honest,  open  man, 
like  General  Jackson,  was  duped,  and  it  was  very 
necessary  that  there  should  be  the  appearance  of 
very  great  fairness  in  a  paper  that  was  to  be  used 
for  very  great  foulness.  And,  pray,  what  was  the 
material  difference  ?  Mr.  Calhoun,  it  seems,  did 
not  say  that  General  Jackson  ought  to  be  arrested, 
but  that  he  ought  to  be  punished,,  or  reprehended. 
Does  General  Jackson,  with  all  his  sagacity  and 
critical  nicety,  perceive  any  difference  in  the  two 
terms,  so  far  as  his  honour  or  feelings  are  con- 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN  125 

cerned  ?  Would  an  arrest  be  of  any  consequence 
to  him,  if  he  was  punished  or  reprehended?  or 
could  he  well  be  punished  without  an  arrest  ?  It 
is  the  punishment  that  inflicts  the  real  stigma. 
Indeed,  this  intelligent  distinction  reminds  me  of 
Barney  O'Blanigan's,  when  he  explained  that  he 
did  not  say  "  that  Patrick  McFardin  ought  to  be 
htmg,  but  that  his  neck  ought  to  be  stretched" 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1830,  General  Jackson 
communicates  a  copy  of  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  to 
Mr.  Calhoun,  accompanied  with  a  letter  of  the  kind 
and  character  before  described,  in  which  he  asks 
an  explanation,  plainly  implying  that  he  conceives 
him  a  hypocrite,  and  very  indifferent  whether  the 
answer  is  satisfactory  or  not ;  thus  pre-judging  him 
before  he  is  heard. 

To  this  letter,  on  the  same  day,  Mr.  Calhoun 
replied,  merely  acknowledging  its  receipt,  and  pro 
mising  a  fuller  answer  at  a  more  leisure  moment 

On  the  29th  of  May  the  full  answer  was  made ; 
and  among  other  things,  remarking  upon  the  plot 
that  was  secretly  in  operation  against  him,  and  Mr. 
Forsyth's  implied  agency  in  it,  he  says  to  General 
Jackson,  "  On  a  review  of  this  subject,  it  is  impos 
sible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  time  and  mode  of 
bringing  on  this  correspondence.  It  is  now  twelve 
years  since  the  termination  of  the  Seminole  war. 
L  2 


126  THE  LIFE  OF 

Few  events  in  our  history  have  caused  so  much 
excitement,  or  been  so  fully  discussed,  both  in  and 
out  of  Congress.  During  a  greater  part  of  this  long 
period,  Mr.  Crawford  was  a  prominent  actor  on  the 
public  stage,  seeing  and  hearing  all  that  occurred, 
and  without  restraint,  according  to  his  own  state 
ment,  to  disclose  freely  all  he  knew;  yet  not  a 
word  is  uttered  by  him  in  your  behalf;  but  now, 
when  you  have  triumphed  over  all  difficulties, 
when  you  no  longer  require  defence,  he  for  the 
first  time  breaks  silence,  not  to  defend  you,  but  to 
accuse  one  who  gave  you  every  support,  in  your 
hour  of  trial,  in  his  power,  when  you  were  fiercely 
attacked,  if  not  by  Mr.  Crawford  himself,  at  least 
by  some  of  his  most  confidential  and  influential 
friends.  Nor  is  the  manner  less  remarkable  than 
the  time.  Mr.  Forsyth,  a  senator  from  Georgia, 
here,  in  his  place,  writes  to  Mr.  Crawford  his  letter 
covering  certain  enclosures,  and  referring  to  certain 
correspondence  and  conversations  in  relation  to  my 
conduct  in  the  cabinet  deliberation  on  the  Seminole 
question.  Mr.  Crawford  answers,  correcting  the 
statements  alluded  to  in  some  instances,  and  con 
firming  and  amplifying  in  others  ;  which  answer  he 
authorizes  Mr.  Forsyth  to  show  me,  if  he  pleased. 
Of  all  this,  Mr.  Forsyth  gives  me  not  the  slightest 
intimation,  though  in  the  habit  of  almost  daily 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  127 

intercourse  in  the  senate ;  and  instead  of  showing 
me  Mr.  Crawford's  letter,  as  he  was  authorized  to 
do,  I  hear  of  it,  for  the  first  time,  by  having  a  copy 
put  into  my  hand  under  cover  of  your  letter  of  the 
13th  instant — a  copy  with  important  blanks,  and 
unaccompanied  with  Mr.  Forsyth's  letter,  with  its 
enclosure,  to  which  Mr.  Crawford's  is  in  answer. 

"  Why  is  this  so  ?  Why  did  not  Mr.  Forsyth 
himself  show  me  the  letter — the  original  letter  ? 
By  what  authority  did  he  place  a  copy  in  your 
hands  ?  None  is  given  by  the  writer.  Why  is 
your  name  interposed  ?  Was  it  to  bring  me  into 
conflict  with  the  president  of  the  United  States  ? 
If  the  object  of  the  correspondence  between  Mr 
Crawford  and  Mr.  Forsyth  be  to  impeach  my  con 
duct,  as  it  would  seem  to  be,  by  what  rule  of  justice 
am  I  deprived  of  evidence  material  to  my  defence, 
and  which  is  in  the  hands  of  my  accusers ;  of  a 
copy  of  Mr.  Forsyth's  letter,  with  the  enclosures; 
of  a  statement  of  the  conversation  and  correspond 
ence  of  the  two  individuals  whose  names  are  in 
blank  in  the  copy  of  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  fur 
nished  me  ?  Why  not  inform  me  who  they  are  ? 
Their  testimony  might  be  highly  important,  and 
even  their  na?nes  alone  might  throw  much  light 
on  this  mysterious  affair. 

("  I  must  be  frank.    I  feel  that  I  am  deprived  of 


128  '     THE  LIFE  OF 

important  rights  by  the  interposition  of  your  name, 
of  which  I  have  just  cause  to  complain.  It  deprives 
me  of  important  advantages  which  would  otherwise 
belong  to  my  position.  By  the  interposition  of 
your  name,  the  communication  which  would  exist 
between  Mr.  Forsyth  and  myself,  had  he  placed 
Mr.  Crawford's  letter  in  my  hands,  as  he  was 
authorized  to  do,  is  prevented,  and  I  am  thus  de 
prived  of  the  right  which  would  have  belonged  to 
me  in  that  case,  and  which  he  could  not  in  justice 
withhold,  of  being  placed  in  possession  of  all  the 
material  facts  and  circumstances  connected  with 
this  affair.  In  thus  complaining,  it  is  not  my 
intention  to  attribute  to  you  any  design  to  deprive 
me  of  so  important  an  advantage.  I  know  the 
extent  of  your  public  duties,  and  how  completely 
they  engross  your  attention.  They  have  not  al 
lowed  you  sufficient  time  for  reflection  in  this 
case,  of  which  evidence  is  afforded  by  the  ground 
that  you  assume  in  placing  the  copy  of  Mr.  Craw 
ford's  letter  in  my  hand,  wrhich  you  state  was  sub 
mitted  by  his  authority.  I  do  not  so  understand 
him  :  the  authority  was,  as  I  conceive,  to  Mr.  For 
syth,  and  not  to  yourself,  and  applied  to  the  ori 
ginal  letter,  and  not  to  the  copy,  both  of  which,  as 
1  have  shown,  are  very  important  in  this  case,  and 
not  mere  matters  of  form.  I  have  asked  the  ques- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  129 

Uon,  Why  is  this  affair  brought  up  at  this  late 
period,  and  in  this  remarkable  manner  ?  It  merits 
consideration,  at  least  from  myself.  I  am  in  the 
habit  of  speaking  my  sentiments  and  opinions 
freely,  and  I  see  no  cause  which  ought  to  restrain 
me  on  the  present  occasion.  I  should  be  blind, 
not  to  see  that  this  whole  affair  is  a  political  ma 
noeuvre,  in  which  the  design  is  that  you  should  be 
the  instrument  and  myself  the  victim,  but  in  which 
the  real  actors  are  carefully  concealed  by  an  artful 
movement  A  naked  copy,  with  the  names  refer 
red  to  in  blank,  affords  slender  means  of  detection  ; 
while,  on  the  contrary,  had  I  been  placed,  as  I 
ought  to  have  been,  in  possession  of  all  the  facts 
which  I  was  entitled  to  be,  but  little  penetration 
would  probably  have  been  required  to  see  through 
the  whole  affair.  The  names  which  are  in  blank 
might  of  themselves,  through  their  political  asso 
ciations,  point  directly  to  the  contrivers  of  this 
scheme.  I  wish  not  to  be  misunderstood.  I  have 
too  much  respect  for  your  character  to  suppose  you 
capable  of  participating  in  the  slightest  degree  in 
a  political  intrigue.  Your  character  is  of  too  high 
and  generous  a  cast  to  resort  to  such  means,  either 
for  your  own  advantage  or  that  of  others.  This 
the  contrivers  of  the  plot  well  knew ;  but  they 
hoped,  through  your  generous  attributes,  through 


130  ,     THE    LIFE    OF 

your  lofty  and  jealous  regard  for  your  character, 
to  excite  feelings  through  which  they  expected  to 
consummate  their  designs.  Several  indications 
forewarned  me,  long  since,  that  a  blow  was  medi 
tated  against  me ;  I  will  not  say  from  the  quarter 
from  which  this  comes ;  but  in  relation  to  this  sub 
ject,  more  than  two  years  since,  I  had  a  corres 
pondence  with  James  A.  Hamilton,  the  district 
attorney  for  the  southern  district  of  New  York,  on 
the  subject  of  the  proceedings  of  the  cabinet  on  the 
Seminole  war,  which,  though  it  did  not  then  excite 
particular  attention,  has  since,  in  connexion  with 
other  circumstances,  served  to  direct  my  eye  to 
what  was  going  on." 

These  remarks  of  Mr.  Calhoun  to  the  president 
so  plainly  implicated  Mr.  Forsyth  in  the  conspi 
racy,  that  he  addressed  a  letter  to  him  on  the  31st 
of  May,  commencing  in  the  following  manner : 
"Having,  at  the  request  of  the  president  to  be 
informed  what  took  place  in  the  cabinet  of  Mr. 
Monroe  on  the  subject  of  the  Seminole  campaign, 
laid  before  him  a  copy,  except  the  omission  of  a 
name,  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Crawford,  which  has 
since  been  communicated  to  you,  the  president  has 
thought  it  just  to  permit  me  to  read  your  answer 
of  the  29th  instant,  to  his  letter  enclosing  it. 
*  *  *  Your  answer  to  the  president 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN. 

seems  to  be  founded  upon  the  presumption  that 
there  is  some  conspiracy  secretly  at  work  to  do 
injury  to  your  character,  and  to  destroy  your  poli 
tical  consequence.  With  this  presumption  I  have 
no  concern ;  but  the  circumstances  under  which 
my  name  is  introduced  by  you  render  it  proper 
that  I  should  be  distinctly  informed  if  this  charge 
of  conspiracy  against  you  is  intended  to  apply  to 
me." 

Mr.  Calhoun,  on  the  1st  of  June,  1830,  answered 
this  letter,  and  said,  "  That  there  are  those  who 
intend  that  this  affair  shall  operate  against  me  poli 
tically,  by  causing  a  rupture  between  myself  and 
the  president,  and  thereby  affect,  if  possible,  my 
standing  with  the  nation,  I  cannot  doubt,  for  rea 
sons  which  I  have  stated  in  my  answer  to  the  pre 
sident:  but  I  must  be  permitted  to  express  my 
surprise  that  you  should  suppose  that  my  remarks 
comprehended  you,  when  they  expressly  referred 
to  those  whose  names  did  not  appear  in  the  trans 
action,  and  consequently  excluded  you." 

Mr.  Forsyth's  letter  of  the  31st  of  May,  to  Mr. 
Calhoun,  was  placed  in  the  latter  gentleman's 
hands,  on  the  steamboat,  as  he  was  leaving  Wash 
ington  for  his  home  ;  it  was  answered  the  next 
day;  and  when  he  arrived  at  home,  on  the  22d  of 
June,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  president,  enclos- 


132  THE  LIFE  OF 

ing  a  copy  of  Mr.  Forsyth's,  remarking,  "  I  had 
supposed,  from  the  complexion  of  your  letters  to 
me,  that  the  copy  of  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  to  Mr. 
Forsyth  had  been  placed  by  the  latter  in  your 
hands,  without  any  previous  act  or  agency  on  your 
part ;  but  by  Mr.  Forsyth's  letter  to  me,  I  am 
informed  that  such  is  not  the  fact.  It  seems  that 
he  acted  as  your  agent  in  the  affair.  Under  this 
new  aspect  of  this  matter,  I  conceive  that  I  have 
the  right  to  claim  of  you  to  be  put  in  possession 
of  all  the  additional  information  which  I  might 
have  fairly  demanded  of  Mr.  Forsyth,  had  the 
correspondence  been  originally  between  him  and 
myself.  I  make  this  application  solely  from  the 
desire  of  obtaining  the  means  of  enabling  me  to 
unravel  this  mysterious  affair.  Facts  and  circum 
stances,  light  of  themselves,  may,  when  viewed  in 
connexion,  afford  important  light  as  to  the  origin 
and  object  of  what  I  firmly  believe  to  be  a  base 
political  intrigue,  got  up  by  those  who  regard  your 
reputation  and  the  public  interest  much  less  than 
their  own  personal  advancement." 

Before  answering  the  above  letter,  the  president 
had  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Forsyth,  the  receipt 
of  which  he  acknowledged  on  the  7th  of  June,  in 
the  following  manner :  "  I  have  received  your  let 
ter  of  the  2d  instant,  enclosing  a  copy  of  your  letter 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  133 

to  Mr.  Calhoun,  of  the  31st  ult.,  and   his  reply 
thereto. 

"  In  the  letter  which  you  have  addressed  to  Mr. 
Calhoun,  you  stated  as  follows,  to* wit:  i  Having, 
at  the  request  of  the  president  to  be  informed  what 
took  place  in  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe,  on  the 
subject  of  the  Seminole  campaign,  laid  before  him 
a  copy,  except  the  omission  of  a  name,  of  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Crawford,'  &c.  This  is  construed  by 
Mr.  Calhoun  into  a  declaration  that  I  requested 
you  to  furnish  me  with  the  information.  I  am 
satisfied  it  was  not  by  you  so  intended,  and  I  would 
be  glad  you  would  so  explain  it  to  him.  I  never 
conversed  with  you  upon  this  subject  previous  to 
the  time  when  you  sent  me  Mr.  Crawford's  letter. 
The  facts  are  these  :  I  had  been  informed  that  Mr. 
Crawford  had  made  a  statement  concerning  this 
business,  which  had  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
Colonel  James  *3.  Hamilton.  [A  most  conspicu 
ous  character  in  this  drama.]  On  meeting  with 
Colonel  Hamilton,  I  inquired  of  him,  and  received 
for  answer  that  he  had,  but  remarked  that  he  did 
not  think  it  proper  to  communicate  without  the 
consent  of  the  writer.  I  answered,  that,  being 
informed  that  the  marshal  of  this  district  had,  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  [who  was  that  ?]  made  a  similar 
statement  to  that  said  to  have  been  made  by  Mr. 
M 


134  THE  LIFE  OF 

Crawford,  I  would  be  glad  to  see  Mr.  Crawford's 
statement,  and  desired  he  would  write,  and  obtain 
his  consent." 

The  reader  will  perceive  how  difficult  it  is  to 
get  along  with  a  villanous  intrigue.  Right  at  this 
spot  the  conspirators  like  to  have  been  blown. 
They  had  carried  the  matter  a  little  too  far;  it 
brought  out  the  old  chief  as  hot  as  pepper,  and  he 
reveals  some  precious  facts.  He  says,  "  I  had. 
been  informed  that  Mr.  Crawford's  statement  had 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  Colonel  James  A.  Hamil 
ton."  Now,  who  informed  the  president  of  this  ? 
Recollect,  Mr.  Calhoun  says  to  the  president  in  his 
letter  of  the  29th  of  May,  1830,  "that  more  than 
two  years  since"  James  A.  Hamilton  had  written 
to  him  "on  the  subject  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
cabinet  on  the  Seminole  war,  which,  though  it  did 
not  then  excite  particular  attention,  [the  corres 
pondence  being  insidiously  conducted,  with  a 
highly  professed  regard  for  Mr.  Calhoun,]  has 
since,  in  connexion  with  other  circumstances, 
served  to  direct  my  eye  to  what  was  going  on." 
Now  every  one  must  perceive  that  this  "more 
than  two  years  since,"  exactly  corresponds  with 
the  time  when  Mr.  Van  Buren  returned,  after  a 
considerable  tour  in  the  southern  states,  from  his 
friendly  visit  to  Mr.  Crawford.  Does  any  one 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  135 

doubt  that  he  received  his  information  from  Van 
Buren  ?  And  who  does  not  see  at  once,  that  he 
went  about  getting  the  facts  from  some  other  quar 
ter  than  from  Van  Buren,  for  the  purpose  of  being 
used,  as  agreed  upon  by  Van  Buren,  Cambreling, 
and  Crawford,  while  together  in  Georgia  ?  Fail 
ing  in  getting  them  from  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  For- 
syth,  the  well-known  confidant  and  bosom  friend 
of  Mr.  Crawford,  was  resorted  to,  and  with  suc 
cess.  General  Jackson  was  duped  ;  he  was  a  per 
fect  and  unconscious  instrument  in  the  abominable 
affair;  and  as  soon  as  the  first  indication  appeared 

i   of  connecting  him  with  fishing  up  this  long-buried 
transaction,   his   pride    became    alarmed,    and    he 

\  instantly  made  them  take  back  what  he  conceived, 
no  doubt,  a  base  insinuation. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1830,  Mr.  Forsyth  an 
swered  General  Jackson's  letter,  and  says,  "  I  did 
not  intend  to  convey  to  Mr.  Calhoun  the  idea  that 
any  personal  communication  ever  took  place  between 
us,  prior  to  the  date  of  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  rela 
tive  to  the  occurrences  in  Mr.  Monroe's  cabinet, 
on  the  question  of  the  Seminole  war.  What  I 
intended  he  should  know,  and  I  suppose  will  now 
understand,  if  I  have  inadvertently  misled  him,  is, 
Jiat  I  did  not  volunteer  to  procure  the  information 
sontained  in  Mr.  Crawford's  letter,  but  that  it  was 

• 


13(3  THE  LIFE  OF 

obtained  for  your  use,  in  compliance  with  your 
request.  Major  Hamilton  requested  me,  in  your 
name,  to  give  to  you  what  I  had  previously  given 
to  him — Mr.  Crawford's  account  of  the  transaction. 
With  this  request  I  complied,  after  having  first 
obtained  Mr.  Crawford's  consent,  and  received 
from  him  his  correction  of  a  mistake  I  had  made 
in  repeating  his  verbal  statement." 

It  will  be  very  obvious,  from  the  above  letter, 
as  well  as  the  inquiry  made  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  that 
Mr.  Forsyth  felt  much  solicitude  about  being  sus 
pected  of  having  an  agency  in  the  plot  then  going 
on,  or  being  considered  a  "  volunteer"  in  the  mat 
ter.  But  Mr.  Forsyth  owed  it  to  himself,  as  well 
as  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  to  have  stated  how  it  was  ho 
came  to  have  any  conversation  at  all  with  Mr. 
Crawford  on  this  old  and  long-forgotten  subject , 
who  first  requested  him  to  procure  this  informa 
tion  ;  how  he  happened  to  first  broach  it  to  Colonel 
Hamilton  ;  what  was  contained  in  his  letter  to  Mr. 
Crawford,  and,  indeed,  to  have  furnished  a  copy 
of  that  letter ;  whether  he  sought  this  information 
from  Mr.  Crawford  without  ascertaining  the  motive 
of  the  seeker  of  it ;  whether  he  felt  no  curiosity 
(you  know  I  have  said  curiosity  is  the  greatest 
thing  in  creation)  to  know  what  was  meant  or 
intended  by  dragging  up  an  old  cabinet  secret. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  137 

before  he  consented  to  become  an  instrument  for 
that  purpose.  I  do  not  know  how  that  wonderful 
thing,  curiosity,  affects  Mr.  Forsyth ;  but  never 
did  mortal  man  have  a  greater  one  than  I  have  to 
know  exactly  how  this  thing  took  place.  I  believe 
it  took  place  just  as  I  have  named  it,  and  so  I  think 
my  readers  will ;  but  yet  I  have  an  amazing  itching 
to  know  how  the  parties  talked  together ;  what  was 
their  calculations ;  what  sort  of  gestures  they  made; 
if  they  whispered  to  one  another ;  if  they  looked 
to  the  door,  to  see  if  any  one  was  coming ;  if  they 
winked  and  nodded  at  the  suggestion  of  a  good 
idea,  when  the  project  was  sifted  pro  and  con; 
and  finally,  when  the  thing  was  all  fixed  to  their 
notion,  whether  little  Van  didn't  look  as  smiling 
as  a  basket  of  chips.  I  confess,  this  is  my  curi 
osity. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  1830,  General  Jackson  an 
swered  Mr.  Calhoun's  letter  of  the  22d  of  June 
preceding,  and  enclosed  him  Mr.  Forsyth's  expla 
nation,  and  then  notified  him  that  he  closed  the 
"  correspondence  for  ever." 
M  2 


138  THE  LIFE  OF 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ALTHOUGH  General  Jackson  brought  the  cor 
respondence  to  a  close  on  his  part,  yet  so  did  not 
Mr.  Calhoun,  until  he  had  given  him  a  reply ;  and 
if  General  Jackson  has  any  feelings,  it  must-  have 
sunk  deep  into  his  heart,  and  will  there  fester  until 
he  ceases  to  feel  at  all ;  until  intrigues,  and  plots, 
and  conspiracies  shall  all  be  over  with  him :  and 
when  fading  nature  shall  finally  sink  away  from 
his  vision,  Van  Buren's  dark  and  traitorous  image 
should  be  the  last  object  that  settles  in  the  beamless 
gloom  of  death. 

On  the  25th  of  August,  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  one  of 
the  closing  paragraphs  of  his  last  letter  to  General 
Jackson,  remarks,  "  You  well  know  the  disinte 
rested,  open,  and  fearless  course  which  myself  and 
my  friends  were  pursuing  at  this  very  period, 
[alluding  to  the  time  when  Mr.  Crawford  was 
writing  his  letters  against  him,  some  of  which  had 
been  shown  to  General  Jackson,]  and  the  weight 
of  enmity  which  it  drew  down  upon  us  from  your 
opponents.  Little  did  I  then  suspect  that  these 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  139 

secret  machinations  were  carrying  on  against  me 
at  Nashville,  or  that  such  propositions  could  be 
ventured  to  be  made  to  you,  or,  if  ventured,  with 
out  being  instantly  disclosed  to  me.  Of  this,  how 
ever,  I  complain  not,  nor  do  I  intend  to  recrimi 
nate  ;  but  I  must  repeat  the  expression  of  my 
surprise,  that  you  should  apply  to  an  individual 
whom  you  knew,  from  such  decisive  proof,  to  be 
actuated  by  the  most  inveterate  hostility  towards 
me,  for  information  of  my  course  in  Mr.  Monroe's 
cabinet.  ,  It  affords  to  my  mind  conclusive  proof 
that  you  had  permitted  your  feelings  to  be  alienated 
by  the  artful  movements  of  those  who  have  made 
you  the  victim  of  their  intrigue,  long  before  the 
commencement  of  this  correspondence." 

I  appeal  to  the  candid  reader  to  say  if  he  ever 
heard  or  read  of  a  baser  plot,  or  one  more  fully 
exposed.  Whatever  may  be  his  prejudices  against 
Mr.  Calhoun,  from  any  cause,  has  he  ever  known  a 
more  abused  and  injured  man  ?  Great  efforts  have 
been  made  by  his  enemies  to  divert  public  attention 
from  the  infamous  treatment  he  received  from  this 
cabal,  by  directing  it  to  what  is  called  his  nullifi 
cation  principles.  This  is  all  a  miserable  sham. 
While  Mr.  Calhoun  and  General  Jackson  were  on 
terms  of  friendship,  their  political  opinions  were 
the  same.  General  Jackson  was  as  much  a  nulli- 


140  THE  LIFE  OF 

fier  as  he  was ;  and  can  the  public  want  any  better 
proof  of  it  than  this  most  notorious  and  undenieu 
fact,  that  when  General  Hayne,  the  then  bosom- 
friend  of  both  General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun, 
delivered  his  famous  speech  on  Foot's  resolution, 
in  which  he  took  great  pains  to  assert  and  maintain 
the  doctrines  of  nullification,  as  had  been  previously 
expounded  by  Mr.  Calhoun  himself,  which  every 
one  will  see  by  comparison,  General  Jackson,  with 
his  own  sign-manual,  wrote  to  General  Hayne  a 
highly  complimentary  letter,  expressly  declaring 
that  he  had  promulgated  the  true  principles  of  our 
government,  and  that  he  would  have  his  speech 
printed  upon  satin,  and  hung  up  in  his  chamber. 
After  this,  who  does  not  see  that  all  the  farce  about 
nullification  is  gotten  up  merely  to  hide  a  most 
villanous  transaction  ?  Yes,  General  Jackson  has 
been  made  to  forego  his  acknowledged  political 
principles ;  to  violate  the  pledges  made  to  the  party 
who  placed  him  in  power ;  to  repudiate  that  strict 
construction  of  the  constitution  with  which  he 
commenced  his  administration;  to  separate  himself 
from  his  oldest  and  warmest  friends ;  and  finally,  to 
seek  the  blood  of  the  citizens  of  his  own  native 
state,  merely  to  consummate  a  revenge,  the  more 
keenly  whetted  because  originally  without  a  cause 
and  prosecuted  without  reason,  upon  an  individual 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

who  had  never  harmed  him,  but  whose  highest 
offence  was  his  friendship  and  service. 

Will  any  one  now  say  Mr.  Van  Buren  has  been 
wrongfully  abused  ?  Will  they  say  he  is  not 
entitled  to  the  name  of  Manager,  of  Magician  ? 
Mr.  Lumpkin  considered,  and  so  called  him,  six 
years  ago,  an  intriguer,  manager,  and  political 
juggler  ;  and,  if  reports  be  true,  he  will  soon  have 
it  to  say,  from  personal  experience,  he  is  the  prince 
of  magicians;  for  he  is  about  to  become  the  warm 
friend  and  supporter  of  this  intriguer,  manager,  and 
political  juggler,  who  by  his  artifices  succeeded  in 
destroying  the  political  prospects  of  a  friend,  of 
whom  he  himself  declared,  "he  knew,  of  his  own 
knowledge,  to  be  misrepresented." 

The  case  of  Mr.  Lumpkin  is  so  curious,  and 
furnishes  such  a  beautiful  little  illustration  of  our 
hero's  powers  of  conjuration,  that  I  must,  as  pro 
mised  before,  now  give  it  to  the  inquisitive  reader. 
To  work  changes  and  charms  upon  the  ignorant  is 
what  might  be  expected ;  but  to  do  so  upon  the 
knowing  and  experienced,  sustained  by  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  operator's  art,  and  propped  with 
a  violent  prejudice  against  his  juggling  character, 
must  be  the  very  quintessence  of  magic.  To  the 
case. 

I  have  already  informed  the  reader  that  the  state 


142  THE   LIFE    OF 

of  Georgia  has  been  long  torn  by  parties,  the  first 
names  of  which  were  the  Crawford  and  Clark 
parties  ;  they  afterwards  assumed  the  name  of  the 
Troup  and  Clark  parties.  To  the  first  of  these 
Mr.  Forsyth  and  Wayne  belonged,  and  were  among 
its  principal  leaders ;  to  the  last,  Governor  Lump- 
kin  belonged,  and  was  its  main  and  strongest  prop? 
being  the  only  individual  of  his  party  who  could 
ever  obtain  office.  The  Clark  party  were  evidently 
in  the  back  ground ;  the  power  and  control  of  the 
state  government  belonged  to  the  other  party,  and 
they  used  ^it  with  no  sparing  selfishness.  Mr.  For 
syth  and  Wayne  got  every  thing  they  wanted  ;  and 
being  politicians  from  profession,  their  demands 
were  far  from  being  light.  Having  gone  through 
all  the  favours  the  state  of  Georgia  could  confei 
on  them,  they  turned  their  attention  to  anothei 
quarter,  and  determined  to  drive  a  trade,  with  the 
federal  government.  In  looking  out  for  the  best 
facilities  and  safest  correspondents  to  ensure  suc 
cess  to  their  business,  they  very  sagaciously  fixed 
upon  the  house  of  Martin  Van  Buren  &  Co.,  a 
Dutch  firm  in  New  York,  but  largely  concerned 
in  a  profitable  business  with  some  thriving  dealers 
in  every  sort  of  political  merchandise,  but  particu 
larly  of  hardware,  at  the  seat  of  government. 
To  the  fortunes  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  they  ton 


MARTIN  VAX  BUREN.  ]  43 

nected' themselves,  warmly  supported  him  for  the 
vice-presidency,  and  by  their  influence  had  little 
or  no  difficulty  in  getting  their  party  in  Georgia 
to  do  so  too,  against,  however,  the  decided  and 
violently-contested  opposition  of  the  Clark  party. 
Mr.  Calhoun  was  formerly  an  idol  of  this  party, 
and  they  could  never  forget  the  cruel  treatment  he 
had  received  from  Van  Buren,  as  well  as  how  much 
Van  Buren  had  been  the  tool  of  their  old  adver 
sary,  Mr.  Crawford,  in  his  schemes  of  political 
aggrandizement. 

When  General  Jackson  separated  from  Mr.  Cal 
houn,  and  found  it  necessary  to  pursue  him  with 
the  full  weight  of  his  vengeance,  for  the  sake,  as 
Van  Buren  desired,  of  his  final  and  complete  over 
throw,  so  that  he  might  never  be  in  his  way,  he 
was  compelled  to  resort  to  measures,  which,  as 
before  stated,  violated  all  his  previous  opinions  as 
to  what  belonged  to  the  rights  of  the  states.  His 
proclamation  outraged,  as  the  state-rights  party 
contended,  all  the  principles  of  the  republican 
school.  It  restored,  and  as  it  were  by  magic,  the 
whole  federal  doctrines ;  even  went  farther  than 
the  federalists  had  claimed ;  and  as  a  proof  of  this 
effect,  it  was  hailed  by  them  in  the  most  transport 
ing  manner,  all  over  the  Union.  The  lamb  and 
the  lion  laid  down  together.  It  prostrated  the 


144  THE  LIFE  °F 

structure,  at  a  single  blow,  which  the  state-rights 
party  had  been  rearing  with  great  pains  and  toil, 
for  years,  to  serve  as  a  barrier  against  what  they 
considered  encroachments  upon  the  rights  of  the 
states.  This,  take  notice,  was  the  view  of  southern 
politicians.  Very  many  honest  men  differed  from 
them,  and  believed  the  proclamation  to  be  right. 
But  as  they  considered  themselves  greatly  aggrieved 
by  this  measure,  they  deemed  it  sufficient  cause  of 
rupture  with  the  administration.  The  state-rights 
party  said  it  brought  them  and  the  federalists  to 
gether  without  their  consent,  and  what  was  worse, 
exacted  a  complete  surrender  of  all  their  long- 
cherished  doctrines,  and  substituted  in  their  place 
the  very  principles  they  had  for  years  opposed, 
and  successfully  conquered.  Under  this,  their 
view  of  the  subject,  the  state-rights  party  of  Geor 
gia,  of  which  Mr.  Forsyth  and  Wayne  had  been 
conspicuous  members,  and  often  received  the  high 
est  tokens  of  their  confidence,  determined  to  with 
draw  its  support  from  the  administration.  This, 
while  it  was  wormwood  and  gall  to  Forsyth  and 
Wayne,  was  milk  and  honey  to  the  Clark  party ; 
for,  upon  General  Jackson's  personal  popularity, 
and  the  power  and  patronage  of  his  office,  they 
built  the  highest  hopes,  and  confidently  expected 
that  the  day  of  their  deliverance  was  at  hand  from 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  145 

their  long-endurftd  bondage  to  the  Crawford  and 
Troup  party.  They  were  not  disappointed.  For- 
syth  and  Wayne  could  not  consent,  though  the 
proclamation,  and  the  proceedings  bottomed  upon 
it,  violated  all  the  principles  they  had  contended 
for  while  acting  in  the  Troup  party ;  most  palpa 
bly  contradicted  the  tenets  upon  which  one  was 
made  senator  and  the  other  a  representative  in 
Congress ;  yet  to  give  up  the  bright  prospects  of 
office,  which  an  industrious  and  dutiful  course  of 
conduct  to  the  kitchen  cabinet  had  secured  for 
them,  and  which,  if  not  fully  realized  under  Jack 
son,  would  certainly  fall  upon  them  in  the  next 
administration,  under  their  friend  and  patron, 
Martin  Van  Buren,  wras  what  they  could  not  look 
upon  with  the  least  composure.  What  to  do  they 
knew  not  for  the  moment.  They  saw  by  the 
signs,  that  the  state-rights  party  would  not  sustain 
th£ir  course.  They  well  knew  if  they  would  give  up 
General  Jackson,  who  had  been  warmly  supported 
by  them,  and  that  from  principle,  they  could  not 
possibly  stick  to  Van  Buren,  who  had  been  his 
evil  genius  in  effecting  the  change  of  his  opinions, 
so  obnoxious  to  their  former  doctrines. 

After  consulting  with  their  friends  at  Washing 
ton  city,  Van  Buren  at  their  head,  who  has  always 
a  head  for  contrivance,  this  ingenious  device  was 
N 


I  {(5  THE   LIFE    OF 

struck  out,  founded  upon  the  following  elements: 

1.  Forsyth  and   Wayne  had  a   number  of  warm 
personal  friends  who  would  go  with  them  on  any 
and  all  occasions,  and  of  course,  carry  a  number 
of  others  who  are  led  more  by  their  sympathies 
and   friendships   than   by  principle  or  judgment 

2.  They  had  got  every  thing  from  Georgia  they 
wanted ;  and  their  highest  hopes  were  fixed  (and 
indeed,  half  attained  by  their  faithful  services)  on 
the  federal  government.     They  therefore  had  no 
further  use  for  any  party  in  Georgia,  farther  than 
as  they  would  advance  the  foregoing  views ;  and 
this,  one  party  could  do  as  well  as  another,  because 
it  required  no  principle.     3.  In  looking  for  such  a 
party,  they  said,  (and  here  I  wish  it  to  be  dis 
tinctly  understood  that  I  give  no  opinion  of  my 
own,  I  only  give  their  reasonings  and  conclusions,) 
that  such  an  instrument  could   be   found   in   the 
Clark  party ;  for,  they  said,  it  had  been  so  long 
kept  under  the  hatches,  and  had  no  higher  objects 
than  the  attainment  of  state  offices,  if  they  could 
only  get  the  power  of  the  state  for  the  last  men 
tioned  purpose,  they  would  be  very  willing  to  lend 
themselves  to  the  accomplishment  of  any  views 
Mr.  Forsyth  and  Wayne  might  have  on  the  favours 
of  the  general  government.    They  would  even  take 
Van  Buren  for  president,  whom  they  had  formerly 


MAKTLX  VAN    BUREX.  147 

believed  only  fit  for  a  "  door-keeper,"  and  whom 
the  leader  of  the  party  had  pronounced  a  "  politi 
cal  juggler."  4.  That  by  Mr.  Forsyth  and  Wayne's 
going  over  to  these,  with  their  followers,  they 
would  constitute  a  majority,  and  then  the  consider 
ation  of  the  bargain  would  be,  the  Clark  party 
should  have  the  power  of  the  state,  and  the 
seceders  the  loaves  and  fishes  of  the  federal 
government ;  they  believing,  however,  that  their 
principal  men,  being  much  the  smartest,  as  they 
said,  would  share  very  largely  with  the  old  Clark 
party  in  the  higher  offices  of  the  state,  to  keep  up 
the  reputation  and  character  of  that  party,  not  re 
markable,  as  they  said,  for  either  talents  or  honesty. 
These  premises  being  settled  upon  and  approved, 
the  project  was  put  in  operation  ;  very  many  of  the 
honest  and  disinterested  members  of  the  Clark 
party  being  wholly  ignorant  of  the  terms,  which 
w£re  only  confided  to  a  few  of  the  leaders,  among 
whom,  it  is  said,  Governor  Lumpkin  is  one,  and 
that  he  and  other  leaders  will  go  in  for  Van  Buren 
as  president,  and  carry  the  party,  and  thus  involve 
them  in  one  of  the  most  bare-boned,  bald-faced, 
hollow-eyed  inconsistencies  that  ever  disgraced 
man  "or  party.  As  I  said  before,  I  cannot  believe 
it.  It  requires  such  a  hardihood,  such  a  scarcity 
of  shame — a  principle  of  which  the  brute  creation 


148  THE  LIFE  OF 

is  not  destitute — such  courage  against  ridicule,  sucll 
a  capacity  for  enduring  ijpfamy,  I  cannot  credit 
the  notion  that  a  man,  I  care  not  what  may  be  his 
love  of  office,  how  deceitful  he  may  have  been,  how 
much  he  may  have  imposed  upon  the  people,  how 
artful  his  practices  may  be  to  keep  on  both  sides 
and  all  sides  of  a  question,  he  cannot  stand  such 
inconsistency  as  this.  What !  a  man  who  has 
called  another  an  intriguer,  a  manager,  a  political 
juggler, whose  motto  was  to  "  divide  and  conquer;" 
a  man  who  knows  and  says  his  bosom  friend  has 
"  been  grossly  misrepresented"  by  this  self-same 
juggler,  whose  friend  has  been  cruelly  destroyed 
by  the  very  "  machinations  of  the  mischievous," 
of  which  he  warned  that  friend ;  the  man  who 
declared,  that  "the  best  interest  of  our  common 
country  requires,  not  only  the  harmonious  and 
patriotic  union  of  the  two  first  officers  of  the 
government,  but  of  every  patriotic  citizen  of  the 
whole  country,  to  frown  indignantly  upon  all 
intriguers ,  managers,  and  political  jugglers,  of 
every  description,"  having  Martin  Van  Buren 
specially  in  his  eye  at  the  tiirfe,  is  now  about  to 
unite  with  another  party  to  support  these  very 
principles,  nay,  the  very  man  who  occasioned  his 
denunciation  !  Ifc*cannot  be.  It  is  to  be  hoped, 
for  the  honour  of  our  species,  that  poor  human 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREX.  149 

nature  has  yet  got  that  step  of  shameless  prostitu 
tion  to  take,,  and,  to  prevent  which,  it  is  not  en 
tirely  out  of  the  reach  of  some  virtuous  influence. 

Sure  I  am,  that  whatever  their  leaders  may  do, 
the  honest  part  of  the  Clark  party — and  they  are 
doubtless  as  numerous  as  what  usually  belongs  to 
most  parties — cannot  be  brought  to  such  disgrace, 
especially  when  they  have  a  candidate  in  their  own 
neighbourhood,  whose  general  principles  are  theirs ; 
whose  v-irtues  and  talents  his  very  enemies  admit; 
whose  purity  of  life  and  unambitious  views  give 
the  sure  pledge  of  faithful  service,  upon  whom 
they  and  their  former  political  opponents  may 
meet,  and  lay  down  their  arms  of  warfare.  The 
result  of  the  presidential  contest  in  Georgia  will 
in  a  great  measure  test  or  refute  a  proposition  I 
laid  down  in  my  preface,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  "principle" 

Before  I  quit  this  part  of  the  subject,  I  have 
something  to  say  to  the  magnanimous  state  of 
SOUTH  CAROLINA.  Will  they,  upon  the  facts  just 
shown  in  relation  to  their  much-wronged  and 
injured  son — whose  talents  and  services  have  shed 
upon  the  whole  nation,  but  particularly  upon  her 
self,  such  unfading  lustre — suffer  his  mortal  enemy 
to  triumph  over  him,  by  the  accomplishment  of 
N  2 


J5(J  THE   LIFE   OF 

the  very  purpose  he  had  in  view  in  his  too  well 
meditated  and  successful  machination,  aimed  with 
effect  at  his  destruction,  because  they  are  subjected, 
as  they  contend,  to  a  choice  of  e^ils  ?  Can  this  be 
safe  doctrine  ?  Because  we  cannot  obtain  all  we 
want  in  the  effort  to  get  away  from  the  worst  pos 
sible  state  of  degradation,  we  are  willing  to  remain 
in  that  condition  rather  than  mount  to  a  situation 
of  acknowledged  amelioration  !  Because  we  can 
not  save  the  whole  cargo,  we  will  suffer  the  ship 
to  go  down  rather  than  throw  overboard  a  part!* 


*  I  think  I  can  put  a  case  that  must  satisfy  the  most  scrupulous 
mind.  Suppose  a  vessel  driven  by  the  winds  right  towards  a  shoal 
or  a  quicksand,  and  there  are  three  persons  aboard  who  pretend 
they  can  direct  her  course  so  as  to  avoid  the  threatened  danger. 
The  crew  is  divided  into  three  parties,  each  fixing  their  confidence 
on  the  different  pretenders  above  mentioned.  The  smallest  party? 
unfortunately,  have  their  favourite  knocked  overboard,  leaving  but 
two,  in  one  of  whom  they  have  not  the  least  confidence,  and  believe 
firmly  he  will  sink  the  ship  upon  the  rocks  they  are  so  rapidly 
approaching.  As  to  the  other,  they  have  not  the  same  distrust 
but  on  the  contrary,  many  good  reasons  to  believe,  not  so  much 
from  perfect  skill,  though  greatly  better  than  the  other,  as  from 
the  greater  inducements  to  exert  himself  to  save  the  vessel :  does 
any  man  believe  that  such  party  ought  to  fold  their  arms,  and  let 
that  individual  take  charge  of  the  vessel,  upon  whose  conduct  they 
admit  and  expect  the  certain  destruction  of  the  whole  crew  and 
cargo,  because  they  will  not  join  in  the  support  of  him  in  which 
there  is  possible  if  not  probable  safety  1  For  my  part,  I  cannot 
understand  such  logic.  This  case  applies  as  well  to  the  Nationals 
as  to  the  Nullifiers,  and  let  them  see  well  to  it. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

But  to  you  I  would  say,  whatever  may  be  youi 
honest  scruples  on  this  subject,  they  ought  all  to 
vanish,  when  the  fame  and  feelings  of  your  illus 
trious  Calhoun  are  so  vitally  concerned ;  provided, 
:'n  so  doing,  no  dishonourable  concession  is  made. 


152  THE  LIFE  OF 


'CHAPTER  VII. 

WE  proceed  now  to  the  relation  of  another  re 
markable  event  connected  with  the  political  life 
of  our  hero,  in  which  the  same  successful  power 
of  intrigue  is  played  off  upon  the  man  he  consi 
dered  his  rival,  and  yet  in  his  way. 

When  General  Jackson  was  elected,  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  his  friends  had  contributed  so  eminently  to  his 
success,  that  his  cabinet  claimed  a  large  share  of 
advisers  from  that  class  ;  and  as  the  perfidy  I  have 
just  been  describing  had  not  then  taken  effe?t,  it 
was  filled  by  a  majority  from  his  ranks.  Ingham, 
Branch,  and  Berrien  were  decidedly  not  of  the 
true  New  York  politicians,  but  they  were  never 
theless  certain  to  be  on  the  honest  side,  be  that 
where  it  may.  Governed,  therefore,  by  that  rule, 
Van  Buren  well  knew  he  had  no  chance  for  their 
influence;  and  he  easily  saw,  that -with  such  mate 
rials,  so  near  the  president,  justly  entitled  to  his 
fullest  confidence,  and  so  much  in  his  way,  the  deep 
design  already  narrated  stood  in  great  danger  of 
defeat,  unless  things  could  be  altered,  and  a  cabinet 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  153 

more  to  his  notion  readjusted.  This  was  one  of 
his  first  cares,  and  he  began  early  to  lay  his  plans 
to  blow  them  up.  Fortunately  for  him,  one  of  the 
cabinet,  Eaton,  was,  from  weakness  and  misfor 
tune  united,  a  most  fit  instrument  for  his  purpose. 
The  only  alternative  left  him  wras  to  enlist  the  aid 
of  higher  influence ;  and  this,  Van  Buren,  with  an 
eye  ever  open  to  his  own  advantage,  readily  per 
ceived.  Without  family  himself,  and  little  or  no 
thing  at  stake,  so  far  as  the  moralities  and  refined 
courtesies  of  social  life  were  concerned,  he  was 
determined  to  bring  Mrs.  Eaton  into  the  inter 
course  of  the  virtuous  circles  of  Washington,  or, 
what  he  would  much  prefer,  turn  the  failure  of  his 
scheme  to  his  own  account.  To  this  end  he  com 
menced  the  work.  He  knew  that  Eaton,  by  his 
having  written  the  life  of  General  Jackson,  his 
everlasting  devotion  to  him,  mingled  with  a  per 
petual  current  of  flattery — than  whom,  there  is  not 
another  living  mortal  who  loves  it  as  much  as 
General  Jackson — had  acquired  a  wonderful  influ 
ence  over  the  old  man,  of  which  his  appointment 
as  secretary  of  war  afforded  the  most  astonishing 
proof. 

All  the  heads  of  department,  together  with  the 
vice-president,  and  their  families,  had  refused  all 
intercourse  with  Eaton's  family ;  and  to  show  tha 


154  THE   LIFE    OF 

it  was  not  persecution,  even  a  part  of  the  presi 
dent's  own  female  family  had  done  and  continued 
to  do  so  likewise.  Van  Buren  took  occasion  to 
visit  Eaton  and  his  wife  frequently,  was  unusually 
attentive  to  Mrs.  Eaton,  sought  all  opportunities, 
public  and  private,  to  treat  her  with  marked 
civility ;  but  all  would  not  do,  public  sentiment 
remained  inexorable.  Van  Buren  changed  his 
mode  of  operation  ;  he  often  visited  the  president, 
and  always  made  the  unhappy  situation  of  Mrs. 
Eaton  the  theme  of  his  conversation.  He  spoke 
of  it  as  a  great  cruelty,  that  she  was  a  much-injured 
woman,  that  she  had  a  lovely  family  of  little  daugh 
ters,  who  were  unkindly  cut  off  from  the  common 
courtesies  of  society.  He  assailed  the  old  man's 
feelings  incessantly  on  this  subject;  how  it  was 
preying,  not  only  upon  the  feelings  of  this  unfor- 
nate  lady,  but  that  it  was  murdering  the  peace  of 
mind  of  General  Eaton,  the  warm  and  devoted 
friend  of  General  Jackson.  His  touching  appeals 
had  the  desired  effect ;  he  saw  he  had  worked  suf 
ficiently  upon  the  old  man's  sympathies  to  bring 
things  to  an  issue.  He  at  length  said  to  General 
Jackson  that  the  treatment  used  by  the  other  heads 
of  department  towards  General  Eaton  and  his 
family,  amounted  to  a  disrespect  of  the  chief  ma 
gistrate  himself ;  that  as  he  had  selected  General 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  155 

Eaton  as  one  of  his  confidential  advisers,  his  own 
honour  was  implicated  in  the  choice  of  a  minister 
with  whom  the  other  members  of  the  cabinet  re 
fused  to  associate  ;  that  if  he,  General  Jackson,  the 
head  of  the  nation,  could  associate  with  the  family 
of  General  Eaton,  the  rest  of  his  cabinet  could  not, 
without  an  act  of  presumption,  refuse  to  do  so  too  ; 
that  he  ought  to  exact  at  least  this  much  respect 
to  his  counsellors  and  companions ;  to  persevere  in 
a  contrary  course  was  to  signify  to  the  world  that 
they  held  themselves  superior  to  the  president  in 
the  choice  of  their  company.  This  kind  of  logic, 
and  much  more  stuff  of  a  similar  nature,  had  the 
effect  intended ;  for  the  president  resolved  that 
Mrs.  Eaton  should  visit  and  be  visited  by  the  rest 
of  the  cabinet  officers  and  their  families. 

One  among  the  first  occasions  he  took  to  carry 
this  resolution  into  effect,  was  to  send  for  Governor 
Branch,  and  to  ask  of  him  the  reason  why  Mrs. 
Eaton  had  not  been  invited  to  a  party  which  he 
had  lately  given  at  his  house  ;  to  which  inquiry, 
Governor  Branch,  with  his  accustomed  firmness 
and  independence,  replied,  because  she  was  not  fit 
to  be  the  associate  of  virtuous  females.  The  presi 
dent  intimated  that  an  arrangement  must  and  should 
be  made,  by  which  she  should  conditionally  re 
ceive  the  honours  due  to  her  rank  and  station,  and 


156  THE    LIFE    OF 

that  the  cabinet  should  hear  from  him  upon  the 
subject.  Governor  Branch  left  him  with  a  proud 
disdain  of  any  threats  which  he  had  made  on  the 
subject,  firmly  resolved  to  quit  his  office  rather 
than  yield  a  hairVbreadth  of  his  personal  rights, 
or  the  rights  of  his  family,  in  the  matter. 

A  meeting  of  the  cabinet  was  requested  at  a  pri 
vate  house,  perhaps  at  that  of  one  of  the  ministers, 
to  which  Colonel  R.  M.  Johnson,  a  great  peace 
maker,  was  sent  as  an  ambassador,  with  General 
Jackson's  proposition  on  this  all-important  subject 
of  having  a  female  visited,  contrary  to  the  rules 
which  a  well-regulated  moral  society  have  esta 
blished  to  secure  and  preserve  the  boundaries  be 
tween  vice  and  virtue. 

The  message  was  received,  and,  as  was  to  have 
been  expected,  treated  with  contempt.  It  amounted 
to  this,  that  Mrs.  Eaton  should  be  received  into 
society  on  certain  public  occasions.  These  honour 
able,  highminded  men  considered  it  a  very  little 
business  for  a  president  of  the  United  States  to  be 
busying  himself  about  the  civilities  that  should  be 
paid  to  a  woman  who  had  forfeited  them,  as  the 
community  in  wrhich  she  lived  believed.  They 
considered  that  it  was  a  matter  that  ought  to  be 
left  entirely  to  the  wholesome  discipline  of  that 
virtuous  public  sentiment  which  had  always  very 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREX.  157 

safely  and  properly  regulated  such  matters.  The 
president  nor  his  cabinet  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  affair,  and  they  were  rendering  themselves  per 
fectly  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation  by  giving 
so  much  importance  to  such  a  very  trifling  concern. 
But  so  did  not  think  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  the  presi 
dent.  The  affair  had  produced  a  very  serious  cool 
ness  in  the  intercourse  between  the  members  of 
the  cabinet;  and  it  was  very  evident  that  poor 
General  Eaton  could  not  live  in  any  peace,  either 
with  the  rest  of  his  associates  or  the  society  of 
Washington.  All  Van  Buren  wanted  was  to  get  rid 
of  the  three  members,  supposed  by  him  to  be  deeply 
in  the  interest  of  Calhoun,  and  who  might  by  pos 
sibility  so  \vin  upon  the  affections  and  confidence 
of  the  president  as  to  counteract  his  deep-laid 
schemes,  by  showing  the  president  that  he  was 
imposed  upon.  Now  was  the  time  to  strike  the 
blow  that  \vould  free  him  from  the  fears  and  suspi 
cions  above  entertained.  He  was  resolved  to  make 
a  great  show  of  disinterestedness,  and  therefore 
concerted  with  Eaton,  who  was  compelled  to  re 
sign  for  his  own  peace,  the  following  plan  :  Eaton 
was,  when  he  tendered  his  resignation,  to  work 
upon  the  old  man's  feelings  by  representing  how 
unkindly  he  had  been  treated.  Van  Buren  was  to 
resign,  purely  because  there  was  a  division  in  the 
0 


[58  THE  LIFE  OF 

cabinet,  which  might  embarrass  the  measures  of  the 
administration  ;  and  that  as  office  was  of  no  conse 
quence  to  him,  compared  with  the  honour  and 
reputation  of  the  president,  he  was  very  willing 
to  give  place  to  another  cabinet,  in  which  there 
would  be  greater  unity.  It  was  no  part  of  his 
design  to  leave  the  others  in  office  ;  and  therefore, 
by  playing  upon  the  sympathies  and  prejudices  of 
General  Jackson,  they  arranged  the  whole  matter 
with  him,  that  he  was  to  let  them  resign,  send  Van 
Buren  to  England,  and  dismiss  the  other  three ; 
Barry  being  already  in  his  interest,  was  to  remain 
and  work  the  post-office  for  him,  up  to  all  it  knew. 
Accordingly,  it  was  done ;  and  thus  terminated  an 
intrigue  which  had  for  its  object,  first,  the  removal 
from  around  the  president  of  every  thing  like  Cal- 
houn  influence ;  and,  second,  by  such  an  agitation 
of  the  political  elements,  purposely  gotten  up  by 
Van  Buren,  and  then  his  apparently  disinterested 
interference  to  heal  the  difficulties,  to  give  him  an 
opportunity  to  acquire  influence  himself  over  the 
president.  The  discussion  of  plans,  the  suggestion 
of  expedients,  the  necessity  of  interviews,  all  af 
forded  excellent  opportunities,  and  they  were  well 
improved,  to  become  well  rooted  in  the  secret  con 
fidence  of  the  president.  This  was  especially 
needed  in  the  choice  of  the  new  cabinet;  and  Van 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  159 

Bureiij  knowing  that  Calhoun's  interest  was  in  the 
South,  that  the  South  and  North  was  divided,  and 
getting  more  so  every  day  upon  the  American 
system,  his  first  object  was  to  exclude  every  south 
ern  man  from  the  cabinet;  and  consequently,  it 
was  a  great  point  gained  to  get  rid  of  Branch  and 
Berrien.  His  next  plan  was  to  have  their  places 
filled  from  the  North,  and  this  was  effectually  done. 
With  this  arrangement  he  was  well  satisfied ;  and 
then  there  was  but  one  other  thing  to  settle,  and 
he  was  ready  and  willing  to  leave  the  United 
States,  to  profit  by  the  increase  of  character  which 
a  high  foreign  service  might  confer ;  leaving  his 
political  interests  in  the  hands  of  well-trained 
friends,  who  were  thoroughly  acquainted  with  all 
his  plans,  and  especially  the  vast  influence  he  had 
gained  over  the  president,  which  it  was  their  spe 
cial  business  to  cherish  and  increase.  The  other 
matter  which  deeply  concerned  him  was  this :  he 
did  not  believe  his  prospects  for  the  presidency  had 
so  ripened  as  to  promise  success  within  the  first 
term  of  General  Jackson's  service.  General  Jack 
son  had  repeatedly  said  the  term  of  service  of  the 
president  should  be  confined  to  four  years  only, 
had  recommended  an  alteration  of  the  constitution 
to  that  effect,  and,  by  way  of  testifying  his  since 
rity  of  his  opinions  on  this  subject,  frequently  sig- 


160  THE   LIFE    OF 

nified  his  intention  to  retire  at  the  end  of  his  first 
term.  To  counteract  this  determination  was  all 
that  remained  for  him  to  do  before  he  departed, 
and  fortunately  a  good  opportunity  presented  itself 
to  accomplish  this  wish. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was*  still  the  favourite  of  the  na 
tion  :  Jackson's  popularity  had  not  become  quite 
so  overwhelming  as  it  is  now,  and  he  had  not  been 
long  enough  in  his  office  to  exert  what  he  already 
possessed  to  the  serious  injury  of  Calhoun ;  but 
the  means  were  in  operation,  and  daily  increasing 
in  their  effect,  finally  to  accomplish  that  object; 
and  this  Van  Buren  well  knew :  they  could  not 
possibly  produce  the  desired  effect  within  Jack 
son's  first  term.  The  Washington  Telegraph, 
edited  by  General  Duff  Green,  whose  influence 
had  elected  General  Jackson,  was  also  very  much 
in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  This  paper,  be 
lieving  General  Jackson  was  sincere  in  his  repeated 
declarations  of  retiring  at  the  end  of  four  years, 
commenced  the  campaign  in  favour  of  Mr.  Calhoun 
for  the  presidency,  not  directly,  but  by  such  regu 
lar  approaches  as  evidently  to  point  the  course  it 
intended  to  take  The  New  York  CouriBr,  then 
edited  by  Colonel  Webb,  equally  the  friend  of 
General  Jackson  and  devoted  to  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
attacked  the  Telegraph  for  being  premature  in  its 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

movements.  A  very  warm  contest  ensued,  and,  as 
everybody  might  expect  that  knows  any  thing  of  f 
General  Jackson's  feelings,  who  cannot  bear  to  be 
crossed  in  any  thing  which  affects  his  pride  or 
vanity,  he  did  not  like  the  hasty  step,  as  he  called 
?t,  of  the  Telegraph.  Van  Buren  was  thus  afforded, 
by  this  angry  dispute  between  these  two  editors, 
formerly  co-workers  in  the  same  cause,  an  oppor 
tunity  of  again  infusing  poison  into  the  old  man's 
ears.  He  referred  to  the  conduct  of  the  Tele 
graph  as  another  evidence  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  want 
of  friendship  for  him,  and  lus  secretly  interposing 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  fame.  Other  presidents, 
he  said,  possessing  the  confidence  of  the  people  in 
a  high  degree,  (and  none  stood  higher  in  their 
affections  than  himself,)  served  out  their  two 
terms ;  and  that,  if  he  gave  way,  it  would  be  said 
he  had  not  reached  the  same  high  distinction  that 
was  enjoyed  by  all  the  republican  presidents ;  that 
Mr.  Calhoun's  press  was  trying  to  elbow  him  out 
of  the  honours  to  which  he  was  so  justly  entitled 
by  his  splendid  military  services ;  and  this  too,  by 
the  selfish  contrivance  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  it  was,  to 
say  the  least  of  it,  officious,  intermeddling,  and 
arrogant,  and  the  president  ought  to  give  it  a  de 
cided  rebuke  by  holding  on  for  his  second  term. 
This  was  enough  ;  his  feelings  were  aroused,  his 
o  2 


THE  LIFE  °F 

vanity  became  alarmed,  and  the  Pennsylvania  con 
vention  was  instantly  ordered  to  put  him  again  in 
nomination.  This  matter  being  settled  to  Van 
Buren's  heart's  content,  he  set  out  with  a  joyful 
state  of  mind  on  his  mission  to  England,  there  to 
await  the  operation  of  causes  (which  he  knew  were 
in  progress)  well  calculated  to  lay  out  Mr.  Calhoun 
as  cold  as  a  wedge  before  the  election  for  president, 
at  the  end  of  General  Jackson's  second  term. 

Independent  of  being  one  of  the  best  political 
contrivers,  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  one  of  the  most  for 
tunate  men  in  the  world ;  his  very  reverses  par 
take  of  his  own  character — they  are  benefits  in 
disguise  ,  and  it  can  be  accounted  for  upon  no 
other  principle  than  that  the  devil  is  good  to  his 
own 

After  he  had  been  in  England  until  the  meeting 
o£  the  ensuing  Congress,  the  senate  rejected  his 
nomination  as  minister  to  that  court ;  and  the  con 
sequence  was,  what  no  doubt  he  had  long  desired, 
that  it  raised  the  cry  of  persecution  in  his  favour ; 
and  this,  added  to  the  well-laid  train  already  pre 
pared,  as  necessary  to  lead  him  to  the  full  fruition 
of  his  wishes,  has  almost  stamped  their  success 
with  absolute  certainty.  Of  all  the  agencies  in 
operation  to  control  any,  but  particularly  political 
events,  there  are  none  so  irresistibly  successful  as 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  153 

a  well-directed  sympathy  in  favour  of  an  aspirant. 
If  I  had  to  choose  from  the  magazine  of  weapons 
used  to  advance  political  fortunes,  there  is  none  I 
should  prefer  to  sympathy,  especially  if  it  be  such 
as  arises  from  persecution:  this  last  is  the  very 
best  of  all ;  it  is  entirely  superior  to  that  sympa 
thy,  great  as  it  is,  which  arises  from  poverty,  long 
services,  wounds  obtained  in  battle,  or  indeed,  any 
other  kind.  Persecution !  why,  it  is  a  perfect 
charm ;  it  seizes  hold  of  the  brains  of  the  people 
like  exhilarating  gas,  and  when  safely  lodged  there, 
it  displaces  reason,  judgment,  reflection,  and  every 
thing  calculated  to  conduct  to  sober  results. 

Nothing  could  be  so  fortunate  to  Van  Buren 
as  this  rejection.  It  put  the  finishing  stroke  to 
those  plans  so  artfully  laid,  and  which  I  have  so 
fully  explained,  to  bring  over  General  Jackson  and 
his  powerful  popularity  exclusively  to  his  interest, 
so  settled  and  fixed  as  to  prevent  its  withdrawal, 
even  in  favour  of  the  longest  and  best  friend  he 
ever  had  in  his  life.  General  Jackson  considered 
it  an  insult  to  himself,  and  from  that  moment  he 
identified  himself  with  Van  Buren ;  and  the  con 
sequences  wrhich  followed  show  what  one  unfortu 
nate  step  will  sometimes  do.  Though  I  am  very 
much  inclined  to  believe  that  his  prospects  \vere 
merely  hastened  by  that  event,  and  that  General 


164  THE   L*FE   OP 

Jackson's  influence  would  have  done  the  work 
finally,  in  some  other  way.  He  was  made  vice- 
president  by  a  caucus  at  Baltimore,  and  that  cau 
cus,  among  other  inducements  for  it,  and  not  the 
least,  was  intended  to  pave  the  way  for  the  one  that 
sits  in  May  to  nominate  him  for  president,  and 
perhaps  so  to  revive  them  as  in  future  to  make 
them  the  instrument  by  which  New  York  will  for 
ever  hereafter  dictate  the  president  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  So  far  as  General  Jackson 
was  concerned,  it  was  not  necessary ;  he  had  been 
elected  in  express  opposition  to  a  caucus ;  and  being 
in  office  with  an  avowed  determination  to  run  for 
a  second  term,  unopposed  by  any  one  of  his  own 
party,  no  one  will  contend. that  he  needed  now  the 
aid  of  that  which  he  had  once  triumphed  over :  the 
thing  is  absurd.  It  was  therefore  called  a  caucus 
to  nominate  a  president  and  vice-president,  to  have 
the  custom  established  for  the  benefit  of  the  little 
magician,  when  his  time  came  round  :  and  mark 
me,  it  will  be  continued  until  Forsyth,  and  Benton, 
and  Rives  are  happily  brought  into  the  fold.  The 
office-holders  have  their  candidates  now  out,  stall- 
feeding,  enough  of  them  to  last  ten  generations, 
and  which  will  as  certainly  come  in  as  there  is  a 
God  in  heaven,  unless  this  caucus  system  is  broken 
down.  I  have  not  a  single  piece  of  property  more 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  165 

unconditionally  mine,  than  does  the  government 
of  the  United  States  belong  to  the  office-holders, 
under  the  caucus  system ;  and  their  commissions 
might  just  as  well  run  that  they  shall  hold  their 
offices  to  themselves  and  their  heirs,  and  in  default 
of  heirs,  to  such  successors  as  they  may  choose  to 
appoint,  as  to  suffer  them  to  get  up  and  perpetuate 
an  instrument  by  which  they  as  effectually  secure 
the  same  object. 


156  THE  LIFE  OF 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WE  have  brought  the  life  of  our  hero  down  to 
the  time  when  he  is  about  to  realize  the  object  for 
which  the  disgusting  tissue  of  intrigues,  related  in 
this  volume,  were  designedly  laid;  and  it  now 
only  remains  for  a  virtuous  people  to  say  whether 
they  will  stand  by,  in  a  government  like  this — 
boasting  to  be  the  freest  on  earth,  equal  in  its  laws, 
pure  in  its  principles,  and  young  in  its  existence — 
and  see  such  frauds  and  corruptions  receive  their 
reward,  not  in  that  indignation  they  so  richly 
deserve,  but  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  original 
design. 

It  is  true,  General  Jackson  and  Colonel  Benton 
have  come  out  with  the  full  weight  of  their  influ 
ence  in  his  favour ;  but,  as  the  American  people 
are  free,  I  trust  they  will  think  for  themselves.  I 
am  a  plain,  common  man ;  fought  under  General 
Jackson  (and  he  knows  I  did  so,  I  hope)  bravely ; 
but  I,  as  well  as  every  other  humble  individual,  have 
my  right  of  opinion  in  this  case,  as  well  as  Jackson 
and  Benton.  I  like  General  Jackson  as  a  general  j 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  157 

but  he  is  too  passionate  and  arbitrary  for  the  rule 
of  a  free  people  ;  and  therefore  his  opinions,  in  civil 
matters,  should  be  received  with  many  grains  of 
allowance.  He  suffers  himself  to  be  imposed  upon 
by  understrappers — men  who  can't  look  an  honest 
man  in  the  face.  He  suffers  himself,  by  ill  advice, 
to  be  lashed  like  the  ocean  into  a  perfect  tempest. 
In  this  condition  of  mind  he  conceives  and  broods 
over  resentments  of  the  most  vindictive  character, 
against  friends  and  enemies,  indiscriminately,  if  it 
suits  the  insidious  purpose  of  those  who  direct  his 
fierce  and  unregulated  passions.  I  have  shown 
clearly,  that  under  this  unfortunate  temperament 
of  mind,  added  to  the  capriciousness  of  a  wayward 
old  man,  he  has  been  imposed  upon,  deceived,  and 
abused,  as  to  one  of  the  best  friends  he  ever  had, 
and  that)  by  one  of  his  latest  political  enemies. 
That  the  deep  interest  he  takes  in  Van  Buren's 
election  is  an  unnatural  one,  excited  by  the  worst 
of  means,  in  favour  of  a  man  who  has  no  other 
regard  for  him  (and  so  manifested  the  fact  by  going 
over  to  his  support  when  he  could  do  no  better) 
than  as  it  can  be  made  to  serve  his  selfish  purposes. 
He  has  been  duped  into  an  unnatural  alliance. 
There  is  no  affinity  in  their  dispositions  or  princi 
ples  :  one  is  all  openness  and  feeling,  till  it  becomes 
a  fault ;  the  other  is  all  slyness  and  cold  calcula- 


163  THE   LIFE   OF 


-)  until  it  is  almost  a  virtue.  He  is  sticking  tt 
this  man  in  preference  to  one  of  his  longest  and 
most  bosom  friends,  one  whom  he  has  tried  and 
knows  to  be  an  honest  man,  a  sincere  man,  a  brave 
man,  a  pure  man,  good  and  true  at  heart,  and  a 
patriot  in  soul.  Does  not  this  prove  to  every  reflect 
ing  mind  that  an  attachment  thus  formed  must 
be  laid  in  some  strong  prejudices,  some  violent 
feeling,  in  which  reason  has  had  nothing  to  do,  in 
which  the  judgment  has  been  absent,  nay,  in  which 
passion  alone  has  set  the  affection.  If  this  be  true, 
what  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  recommenda 
tion  of  one  who  is  himself  imposed  upon,  and  can 
not  act  from  judgment  and  discretion,  because  nei 
ther  of  these  virtues  entered  into  the  formation  of 
his  opinions  ?  The  American  people,  justly  proud, 
as  they-  ought  to  be,  of  the  right  to  think  and  choose 
for  themselves,  will  pause  and  reflect  long,  before 
they  yield  to  such  an  unnatural  dictation. 

As  to  the  opinions  of  Colonel  Benton,  I  have 
some  few  things  to  show  that  should  make  the 
people  long  distrust  the  correctness  of  them  before 
they  adopted  them  as  their  own  rule  of  action 
The  colonel  is  a  very  unsafe  politician  to  be  relied 
on  where  the  question  under  consideration  requires 
judgment  or  forecast.  He  is  himself  a  man  of 
very  strong  feelings,  and  consequently  strong  pre- 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  169 

judices,  easily  produced  from  passion,  and  of  long 
duration,  from  the  same  cause.  Besides,  it  is  said 
he  is  looking  to  the  presidency  himself,  and  is 
paving  the  way  by  a  warm  support  of  Van  Buren 
to  get  the  great  state  of  New  York,  with  the  little 
magician's  influence,  to  place  him  in  the  chair  as 
Van's  successor.  He  has  said  a  good  deal  about 
New  York's  being  entitled  to  the  next  president  by 
reason  of  her  being  a  large  northern  state ;  con 
sequently,  Van  Buren  will  reciprocate  the  favour 
by  saying  that  a  small  south-western  state  ought 
to  have  him  next  time  :  because  small  states 
have  as  much  privilege  as  large  ones,  and  the 
south  as  the  north;  and  so  we  go.  Therefore, 
when  a  witness  is  shown  to  have  twro  such  power 
ful  passions  as  prejudice  and  interest  operating 
upon  his  mind  while  he  is  testifying,  his  evidence 
should  be  received  wdth  great  caution. 

Independent  of  this,  Colonel  Benton,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  is  a  little  unsteady  in  his  opinions ;  and 
I  ought  not  to  make  such  an  assertion  without  sup 
porting  it  by  proof.  The  reader  shall  have  it. 

In  the  year  1826,  the  power  and  the  patronage 
of  the  executive  branch  of  the  federal  government 
had  become,  as  Colonel  Benton  believed,  too  great, 
under  the  then  president,  John  Quincy  Adams. 
He  was  then  in  the  minority  of  the  senate ;  but  as 
P 


170  THE  LIFE  OF 

a  just  (mil  people-loving  statesman,  he  determined 
to  reduce,  if  he  could,  this  dangerous  influence 
over  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Accordingly,  he 
was  the  organ  of  a  report,  drawn  up  by  himself, 
against  executive  power  and  patronage,  accompa 
nied  oy  six  distinct  bills  intended  to  correct  the 
existing  evils.  In  support  of  his  measures,  among 
very  many  excellent,  sound,  just,  and  judicious  re 
marks  on  that  occasion,  I  present  to  the  reader  the 
following,  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  Colonel  Ben- 
ton  :  "  The  whole  of  this  great  power  [patronage] 
will  centre  in  the  president.  The  king  of  England 
is  the  i  fountain  of  honour :'  the  president  of  the 
United  States  is  the  source  of  patronage ;  he  pre 
sides  over  the  entire  system  of  federal  appoint 
ments,  jobs,  and  contracts ;  he  has  '  power'  over 
the  '  support'  of  the  individuals  who  administer 
the  system;  he  chooses  from  the  circle  of  his 
friends  and  supporters,  and  may  dismiss  them,  and 
upon  all  the  principles  of  human  action,  will  dis 
miss  them,  as  often  as  they  disappoint  his  expecta 
tions  ;  his  spirit  will  animate  their  actions  in  all 
the  elections  to  state  and  federal  offices. 

"  We  must  look  forward  to  the  time  when  the 
public  revenue  will  be  doubled :  when  the  civil 
and  military  officers  of  the  federal  government  will 
be  quadrupled  ;  when  its  influence  over  individuals 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  171 

will  be  multiplied  to  an  indefinite  extent;  when 
the  nomination  of  the  president  can  carry  any  man 
through  the  senate,  and  his  recommendation  can 
carry  any  measure,  through  the  two  houses  of 
congress  ;  when  the  principle  of  public  action  will 
be  open  and  avowed — the  president  wants  MY 
vote,  and  I  want  HIS  patronage ;  I  will  vote  as 
he  wishes,  and  he  will  GIVE  me  the  office  I  wish 
for.  What  will  this  be  but  the  government  of 
ONE  man  ?  And  what  is  the  government  of  one 
man  but  a  monarchy  ?  Names  are  nothing  ;  the 
nature  of  a  thing  is  its  substance  :  the  first  Roman 
emperor  was  styled  Emperor  of  the  Republic,  and 
the  last  French  emperor  took  the  same  title  ;  and 
their  respective  countries  were  just  as  essentially 
monarchical  before  as  after  the  assumption  of  these 
titles.  It  cannot  be  denied  or  dissembled  but  that 
this  federal  government  gravitates  to  the  same 
point." 

Now  here  is  prophecy,  not  only  fulfilled  in 
many  particulars,  but  the  results  have  become 
truthful  history.  We  have  fallen  upon  the  very 
times  predicted  ;  and,  what  was  then  only  consi 
dered  by  Mr.  Benton's  opponents  as  fancy,  has 
become  melancholy  facts  ;  and  yet,  (would  you 
believe  it,  gentle  reader  ?)  Mr.  Benton  not  only 
folds  his  arms  in  perfect  acquiescence,  but  abso- 


172  ™E   LIFE    OF 

lutely  refuses  his  assistance  to  remove  the  existing 
mischiefs. 

At  the  last  session  of  Congress,  Mr.  Calhoun,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  correcting  the  abuses  of 
government  resulting  from  the  immense  power  and 
patronage  of  the  executive  branch  thereof,  hunted 
up  Mr.  Benton's  report  and  bills  of  1826,  on  the 
same  subject;  followed  his  path  exactly,  and  re 
ported  one  of  his  own  bills,  almost  word  for  word  : 
and  yet,  Benton  was  the  only  senator  who  refused 
to  give  the  measure  his  support.  What  think  you 
of  this  ?  Does  this  not  look  a  little  like  unsteady 
opinions  ?  No  ;  Mr.  Benton  was  then  in  the  mi 
nority,  against  the  administration ;  but  now,  he  is 
in  the  majority,  in  its  favour.  The  sign  of  the 
case  being  altered,  alters  the  case.  If  your  bull 
gored  my  ox,  you  must  make  compensation  but 
if  my  bull  gored  your  ox,  I  must  look  irt  j  the 
case. 

But  I  have  a  still  stronger  case  than  this.  Colonel 
Benton  has  hardly  made  a  speech  for  the  last  four 
years  that  he  has  not  lugged  in  General  Jackson's 
name,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  praising  him.  In  his 
letters,  at  least  such  as  are  published,  to  wit,  the 
letter  to  the  Mississippi  convention,  recommending 
Van  Buren,  he  speaks  of  Jackson  in  the  same  style. 
The  general  substance  of  his  eulogies  is,  that  he  is 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  173 

the  "  purest  patriot  that  ever  lived/'  the  "  virtuous 
and  unbending  statesman,"  the  "  able,  open,  and 
fearless  captain  ;"  and  very  many  such  strong 
descriptions  of  fine  character.  Now,  gentle  reader, 
it  so  happens  that  Colonel  Benton  and  his  brother 
Jesse  had  a  most  rancorous  and  violent  feud  with 
General  Jackson,  in  times  that  are  passed ;  and  it 
so  turned  out  in  those  days,  that  they  had  a  fight 
with  swords,  dirks,  pistols,  and  other  deadly 
weapons ;  General  Jackson  had  his  sword  taken 
from  him,  broke  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and 
received  also  a  ball  in  his  arm  that  remained  there 
for  years,  and  was  only  extracted  about  four  years 
ago,  long  since  Colonel  Benton  began  to  think  him 
the  "  purest  patriot  that  ever  lived."  Now  mark 
what  a  change  has  come  over  the  colonel's  mind. 
In  a  letter  written  by  the  colonel,  shortly  after  the 
battle,  to  one  of  his  friends,  he  thus  speaks  of 
General  Jackson :  "  I  am  literally  in  hell  here  ; 
[that  is,  in  the  vicinity  of  General  Jackson ;]  the 
meanest  wretches  under  heaven  to  contend  with — 
liars,  affidavit-makers,  and  shameless  cowards.  All 
the  puppies  of  Jackson  are  at  work  on  me ;  but 
they  will  be  astonished  at  what  will  happen  ;  for 
it  is  not  them,  but  their  master,  whom  I  will  hold 
accountable.  The  scalping-knife  of  Tecumpsy  is 
mercy  compared  with  the  affidavits  of  these  vil 
p  2 


174  THE  LIFE  OF 

lains.  I  am  in  the  middle  of  hell,  and  see  no 
alternative  but  to  kill  or  be  killed  ;  for  I  will  not 
crouch  to  Jackson  ;  and  the  fact  that  I  and  my 
brother  defeated  him  and  his  tribe,  and  broke  his 
small  sword  in  the  public  square,  will  for  ever 
rankle  in  his  bosom,  and  make  him  thirst  after 
vengeance.  [Ah!  the  purest  patriot,  an  assassin!!] 
My  life  is  in  danger  ;  nothing  but  a  decisive  duel 
can  save  me,  or  even  give  me  a  chance  for  my  own 
existence ;  for  it  is  a  settled  plan  to  turn  out  puppy 
after  puppy  to  bully  me,  and  when  I  have  got  into 
a  scrape,  to  have  me  killed  somehow  in  the  scuffle, 
and  afterwards  the  affidavit-makers  will  prove  it 
was  honourably  done.  I  shall  never  be  forgiven 
having  given  my  opinion  in  favour  of  Wilkinson's 
authority  last  winter  ;  and  this  is  the  root  of  the 
hell  that  is  now  turned  loose  against  me." 

How  stands  the  case  now  ?  have  I  not  made 
good  the  declaration  that  the  colonel  is  a  "  little 
unsteady  in  his  opinions  ?"  If  so,  ought  not  his 
opinions  to  be  received  with  some  distrust  in  so 
important  a  matter  as  that  of  electing  Van  Buren 
president,  with  a  reversionary  interest  in  favour  of 
the  colonel  ? 

There  are  some  wholesome  truths  in  this  world 
that  the  people  ought  never  to  lose  sight  of ;  they 
would  never,  if  they  knew  and  understood  them  ; 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  175 

but  the  misfortune  is,  that  from  public  men  or 
printing  presses  they  do  not  hear  the  truth.  I  am 
but  a  poor  backwoods  hunter,  but  I  have  been 
among  great  men  long  enough  to  see  that  they  are 
not  the  things  they  are  cracked  up  for  ;  and  when 
I  see  how  many  thousands  of  men  in  my  situation 
who  are  deceived,  my  bosom  swells  with  all  sorts 
of  feelings,  to  go  right  out  through  the  country,  to 
tell  every  man,  woman,  and  child  what  a  miserable 
set  of  dupes  the  great  mass  of  mankind  are  made 
by  the  doings  of  what  is  called  statesmen.  The 
great  pretence  is  that  they  are  working  for  the 
good  of  the  people ;  the  people,  God  bless  them  ! 
is  all  they  go  for ;  and  yet,  strange  to  tell,  they  are 
never  satisfied  till  they  get  the  people  by  the  ears, 
fighting,  father  against  son,  and  son  against  father ; 
all  their  neighbourhood  friendships  destroyed ; 
visiting  broken  up  ;  jealousies  created  ;  warm 
blood  and  heartburning  towards  each  other  at 
every  gathering  they  go  to ;  nay,  their  very  reli 
gious  communion  interrupted.  Now  what  is  all 
this  for  ?  Will  the  people  reflect  upon  it  for  a 
moment  ?  Why  is  it,  let  them  seriously  ask  them 
selves,  that  we  are  in  such  utter  confusion  one 
among  another  ?  Are  we  benefited  personally  by 
it  ?  What  do  we  get  ?  After  thinking  upon  these 
questions  for  a  while,  let  them  take  another  view 


176  THE  LIFE  OF 

of  the  matter  :  do  they  not  perceive  that,  after  all, 
the  only  persons  benefited  by  this  fuss,  and  wrang 
ling,  and  disturbing  the  only  relations  in  life  in 
which  the  great  mass  can  be  happy,  (I  mean  the 
friendships,  the  intercourse,  the  sociabilities  of  pri 
vate  life,  the  good  offices  between  neighbour  and 
neighbour — for  the  common  people  can't  all  be 
public  men,)  are  none  but  the  office-holders  and 
office-seekers  ?  There  are  hundreds  of  people  too 
much  of  gentlemen  to  work ;  and  these  devise 
ways  and  means  to  live  upon  the  labour  of  others, 
some  by  stealing,  some  by  gambling — which  is 
stealing  of  a  paler  colour,  or  what  distillers  would 
say,  well  watered — some  by  cheating,  some  by 
speculating,  some  by  trade,  traffic,  and  turn  over  ; 
but  there  is  a  class,  at  which  I  am  driving,  that  have 
devised  a  way  that  is  more  cunning,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  and  is  more  completely  deceptive  than  all 
the  others  put  together:  these  are  office-seekers. 
They  have  contrived  to  make  government  success 
fully  serve  the  purpose  of  supplying  their  wants, 
and  to  keep  from  work,  and  at  the  same  time  make 
the  people  believe  that  without  them  the  govern 
ment  could  not  retain  a  certain  set  of  principles 
for  a  month.  We  profess  to  have  a  written  con 
stitution,  fully  explaining  all  the  principles  of 
government,  so  simple  and  plain  that  every  man 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  177 

can  understand  them  ;  and  yet,  the  office-seekers 
take  this  instrument  and  make  it  to  politics  what 
the  Bible  is  to  religion.  There  are  not  offices 
enough  for  every  one  that  wants  them ;  for  unfor 
tunately  there  are  more  of  these  fair-skinned,  soft- 
handed,  broadcloth  gentlemen  than  there  ought  to 
be,  and  consequently  they  go  into  the  drive  for  an 
office.  They  take  the  constitution,  or  some  law 
made  under  it,  and  they  start  a  great  question, 
which  they  say  involves  the  liberties  of  the  people  ; 
this  is  the  everlasting  cry  on  all  the  questions 
they  raise,  whether  it  is  about  opening  a  river  01 
building  a  light-house ;  they  soon  take  sides  on  it, 
and  they  make  it  a  perfect  game,  staking  all  the 
offices  of  government,  and  upon  the  issue  of  which 
they  win  or  lose  a  place.  As  I  said  in  my  preface, 
the  votes  of  the  people  are  the  cards  they  play 
with  ;  now,  who  shall  get  and  play  out  the  most 
of  them  is  the  great  scuffle,  and  at  it  they  go  :  they 
lash  the  people  up  into  a  perfect  fury;  they  inflame 
them  into  madness  ;  they  make  them  feel  all  the 
concern  and  excitement  that  they  could  possibly  do 
if  their  life  depended  upon  it,  or  if  they  were  to 
have  the  office  which  is  the  subject  of  their  violent 
contest.  Well,  the  matter  is  all  over  ;  one  set  of 
ruffle-shirt  gentlemen  go  into  the  offices,  and  the 
others  go  to  something  worse,  if  they  can  find  that 


178  THE  LIFE  OF 

thing ;  for  it  is  my  notion  that  there  are  but  very 
few  things  worse  than  the  manner  of  getting  many 
of  the  offices  belonging  to  the  general  government, 
and  nothing  worse  than  the  way  they  are  used 
after  they  are  got.  Now,  the  question  comes 
again,  what  has  the  people  got  by  all  this  ?  they 
go  home  without  a  penny  in  their  pocket,  perhaps 
a  good  deal  spent  they  could  not  well  spare.  If 
they  would  give  fair  play  to  their  reflections,  either 
around  their  fireside  or  upon  their  pillow,  some 
thing  like  this  would  be  the  result :  6  The  hot  con 
test  of  to-day,  and  which  has  lasted  for  months,  is 
over.  I  have  been  to  the  place  of  voting,  and  had 
to  carry  a  dirk  for  fear  of  getting  into  a  scrape 
there :  I  had  some  violent  angry  disputes  ;  cursed 
my  wife's  brother  ;  insulted  my  uncle  ;  told  my 
father  he  was  a  tory ;  dared  my  nearest  neighbour 
to  a  fight;  have  not  been  for  months  upon  speaking 
terms  with  many  of  my  oldest  friends,  and,  indeed, 
my  old  schoolmates,  with  whom  I  was  raised  in 
all  the  agreeable  sports  of  boyhood  ;  my  wife  has 
been  cut  off,  too,  from  visiting  her  nearest  neigh 
bours  and  oldest  companions :  and  what  is  it  all 
for  ?  To  elect  a  man  to  an  office  that  does  not 
benefit  me  one  cent !  I  have  been  running  after 
his  heels,  freeman  as  I  am,  and  barking  at  his  ene 
mies  like  a  dog,  ready  to  tear  out  my  neighbour's 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  179 

eyes,  bite  off  his  nose,  split  his  thumb,  slit  his  lip, 
or  scollop  his  ear ;  and  all  to  put  Mr.  Love-leisure 
into  a  comfortable  office,  to  keep  him  from  work, 
while  it  does  not  lighten  my  labour  one  stroke!' 

Now  this  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  whole  business 
of  elections.  It  is  exactly  the  same  thing  in  all  the 
offices,  high  or  low,  whether  it  be  a  president  or 
constable  ;  it  only  goes  through  a  longer  process 
and  a  few  more  canvassings ;  it  takes  its  rise  in  the 
fountain-head  of  the  people,  as  great  rivers  do  in 
the  springs  of  the  mountains. 

I  have  been  carried  into  these  reflections  by  con 
sidering  why  General  Jackson  or  Colonel  Benton 
should  be  privileged,  any  more  than  any  one  else, 
to  tell  the  people  who  they  shall  vote  for  as  presi 
dent  ?  Are  the  people  like  my  hounds,  that  bark 
when  I  tell  them,  and  leave  off  when  I  stamp  my 
foot  at  them  ;  take  the  trail  when  I  point  the  way, 
or  come  off  when  I  blow  my  horn  ?  I  think  not : 
and,  surely,  when  they  see  the  tricks,  and  changes, 
and  stratagems,  and  barefaced  inconsistencies  of 
men  who  call  themselves  great  men ;  when  they 
hear  a  man  call  another  the  "purest  patriot  that 
ever-  lived"  to-day,  of  which  same  man  he  said 
yesterday,  that  a  certain  affront  he  had  given  him 
"  would  rankle  in  his  bosom  and  make  him  thirst 
after  vengeance,"  and  then  insinuated  that  he  would 


THE   LIFE    OF 

take  his  life  unfairly,  they  cannot  but  distrust  the 
views  and  objects  of  such  politicians :  they  cannot 
rely  with  confidence  upon  the  opinions  of  men  who 
show  by  their  daily  practices  they  have  no  confi 
dence  in  their  own  opinions.  And  yet,  these  are 
the  men  who,  for  the  sake  of  the  office-holders,  are 
recommending  Martin  Van  Buren  as  the  president 
of  the  United  States,  who  has  not  one  merit  of  his 
own  to  entitle  him  to  such  high  distinction,  against 
a  'man  whom  the  people  have  always  delighted  to 
honour  because  he  has  always  honoured  the  people; 
against  a  man  who  has  never  deserted  them,  fought 
side  by  side  with  General  Jackson  for  their  coun 
try  and  their  country's  rights,  while  Van  Buren 
would  have  tamely  submitted  to  British  insult  and 
aggression,  merely  to  defeat  Mr.  Madison  in  his 
election,  that  De  Witt  Clinton  might  come  into 
power  and  carry  him  into  office.  While  White 
was  fighting  the  Indians,  who  were  murdering  the 
women  and  children  on  the  frontiers,  and  laying 
their  habitations  in  ashes,  Van  Buren  was  snugly 
and  safely  standing  up  in  the  senate  of  New  York, 
Branding  the  war  as  unjust,  unnecessary,  and  un 
wise  ;  and  consequently  maintaining  the  principle 
that  we  ought  to  submit  to  the  monstrous  outrage 
of  having  our  property  plundered  on  the  high  seas, 
our  citizens  torn  from  their  vessels  by  every  petty 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN, 

British  captain  who  might  think  proper  to  do  so, 
carried  off  to  fight  the  battles  of  that  nation,  per 
haps  against  his  own  countrymen,  and  often  meet 
ing  a  watery  grave  far  away  from  his  country,  his 
family,  and  his  friends. 


THE 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BLAIR,  of  the  Globe,  and  Ritchie,  of  the  En 
quirer,  (who  considers  Virginia  as  belonging  to 
him,)  are  now  pushing  Van  Buren  with  all  their 
strength  and  with  all  their  souls,  knowing  that  life 
and  death  are  depending  upon  his  success,  to  the 
kitchen  cabinet  and  the  office-holders.  They  know> 
also,  that  he  has  not  a  single  virtue  or  quality  thai 
can  commend  him  to  the  people,  or  entitle  him  to 
such  a  responsible  trust,  and  therefore  they  seize 
hold  of  nothing  but  the  prejudices  of  the  people 
against  the  United  States'  Bank,  with  a  view  to 
get  him  through  upon  that  hobby. 

Van  Buren  understands,  and  doubtless  made  the 
arrangement,  that  upon  that  hook,  and  that  alone 
his  fi-iends  must  strain  every  nerve ;  and  therefore, 
to  give  himself  the  more  merit  to  mount  arid  ride 
that  courser  through  the  race,  especially  in  Vir 
ginia,  where  it  is  in  such  bad  odour,  he  sends  a 
toast  to  that  state,  which  concludes  with  the  ex 
pression  of  "  uncompromising  hostility  to  the 
bank."  Amos  Kendall,  who  also  believes  that  in 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN. 

this  bank-madness  rests  Van  Buren's  only  hope, 
and  that  the  people  must  be  kept  constantly  alarmed 
and  excited  on  the  subject,  has  lately  hatched  up 
a  famous  article,  and  had  it  published  in  the  Globe, 
which  has  been  republished  by  the  Man  of  seven 
principles^  (to  wit,  the  loaves  and  fishes,)  headed 
by  a  great  caution  to  the  people,  that  death  and 
destruction  was  rushing  down  upon  them  like  a 
house  a-fire ;  in  which  wonderful  piece  Mr.  Ken 
dall  has  discovered,  and  gives  it  out  in  inuendoes, 
that  the  cashier  of  the  United  States'  Bank  is  the 
son-in-law  of  Judge  White  ;  that  he  has  lately  been 
to  Washington  city ;  that  Mr.  Speaker  Bell,  the 
known  friend  of  Judge  White,  has  always  been  in 
favour  of  a  bank,  and  he  has  lately  been  at  Phila 
delphia,  having  more  late  reasons  to  be  in  favour 
of  the  present  bank  than  he  ought  to  have  ;  that 
the  bank  has  begun  to  run  up  its  loans,  very  much 
like  its  operations  just  before  the  last  presidential 
election  ;  that  Judge  White  has  lately  broke  with 
the  administration,  that  is,  he  has  on  several  occa 
sions  undertaken  to  think  for  himself,  without  con 
sulting  the  kitchen  cabinet;  and  therefore,  from 
all  these  very  sapient  signs,  Judge  White  has 
turned  against  his  old  doctrines,  and  is  now  pre 
paring  to  go  for  the  bank  :  and  to  wind  up  the 
whole  matter,  is  so  to  contrive  it  (wonderful  con- 


THE  LIFE  OF 

elusion,  indeed  !)  as  to  bring  Mr.  Clay  into  the 
house ! 

Now,  gentle  reader,  put  yourself  in  a  jury-box, 
and  consider  that  you  are  trying  Judge  White  for  his 
life,  on  the  crime  of  changing  his  politics  in  relation 
to  the  bank,  for  the  purpose  of  forwarding  the  views 
of  Mr.  Clay  on  the  presidency;  and  also  suppose  you 
are  sworn  to  try  the  case  according  to  the  evidence, 
would  you  in  your  conscience  hang  the  good  old 
man  on  the  above  testimony  ?  Would  you  even 
hang  Van  Buren  on  it,  who  has  changed  so  often, 
on  so  many  questions,  from  whose  character  you 
might  expect  such  a  thing,  who  has  not  within  any 
twelve  hours  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  his 
life  stuck  to  the  same  set  of  principles  ?  Indeed, 
it  is  testimony  too  weak  for  even  the  little  magi 
cian  ;  and  that  is  putting  the  case  in  a  strong  point 
of  view.  I  much  question  if  the  good  people  of 
New  England  ever  hung  a  witch,  much  less  a 
magician,  on  such  evidence. 

The  fact  is,  this  whole  business  about  the  bank 
is  a  mere  trickery,  it  is  a  humbug,  it  is  a  scare 
crow  :  it  supposes  that  the  people  have  no  more 
sense  than  a  flock  of  crows ;  that  they  can't  tell  an 
old  pair  of  trowsers  stuffed  with  corn  shucks,  and 
an  old  coat  with  its  sleeves  crammed  with  rags, 
both  sewed  together  and  hung  up  on  a  pole  with 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  135 

an  old  hat  upon  the  top  of  it,  from  a  real  man.  It 
proceeds  upon  the  presumption  that  the  people 
have  no  discernment;  that  they  are  the  veriest 
fools  in  all  nature,  worse  than  rabbits,  and  like 
them  can  be  scared  with  rattle-traps  and  white 
bones  stuck  all  through  the  enclosures  they  are  in 
the  habit  of  robbing.  Now  the  people  ought  to 
rise  in  the  strength  of  their  minds  and  throw  off 
such  cowardly  fears  ;  exert  some  thinking  powers 
of  their  own  ;  not  let  demagogues  play  upon  their 
ignorance,  and  then  laugh  at  their  weakness.  They 
wrill  find,  with  all  this  parade  and  fuss  about  the 
bank,  it  has  done  and  can  do  no  more  harm  than 
state  banks  ;  .and  these  they  see,  feel,  handle,  and 
touch  every  day  of  their  lives  :  that  it  was  esta 
blished  b/Washington,  and  continued  by  Madison, 
and  has  furnished  for  them  a  good  currency  for 
forty  years,  besides  collecting  and  paying  away  the 
government's  money  to  the  amount  of  four  hun 
dred  millions  of  dollars,  without  the  loss  of  even 
a  cent.  But  I  do.  not  mention  these  things  for  any 
other  purpose  than  to  show  that  a  great  deal  more 
is  said  about  this  matter  than  is  either  just  or  true. 
All  these  electioneerers  never  fail  to  alarm  the 
people  with  what  will  take  place  if  the  bank  is 
continued.  Why  don't  they  point  to  the  same 
mischiefs  that  have  taken  place  ?  It  has  been  in 
Q2 


^86  THE  LIFE   OF 

existence  forty  years,  surely  long  enough  to  test 
the  truth  of  their  predictions.  If  these  evils  will 
happen  in  future ,  they  ought  to  have  happened  in 
past  times — for  it  is  a  universally  admitted  truth, 
that  the  same  causes  will  produce  the  same  effects, 
in  things  past,  present,  and  to  come. 

The  truth  is,  the  bank  is  as  dead  as  a  door  nail ; 
it  will  never  kick  again,  until  it  is  regenerated  and 
born  again  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  it  is  as 
certain  to  go  (and  mark,  I  make  a  prediction  of  it, 
and  call  upon  every  one  who  reads  my  book  to 
remember  it)  as  Van  Buren  lives,  and  the  New 
York  Regency  continues  to  extend  its  tactics 
through  all  the  states  wedded  to  Van  Buren's 
interest.  To  me  it  is  wonderful  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  do  not  see  the  trick  the  New  York 
politicians  are  playing  off  upon  them,  to  rob  them 
of  an  institution  so  vitally  important  to  their  own 
great  and  justly  favourite  city,  and  consequently 
to  their  great  producing  state.  The  people  in  every 
other  state  see  it,  and  are  utterly  astonished  at  the 
simplicity  of  a  people  who  are  not  only  willing  to 
resign  such  a  benefit,  but  actually  assisting  their 
insidious  invaders  to  carry  it  off  to  their  own  land. 

Judge  White  is,  and  always  has  been,  opposed 
to  the  bank  from  constitutional  scruples.  Pie  can 
not  change :  the  people  have  too  safe  a  pledge  of 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  187 

it  in  the  consistency  and  honesty  of  his  past  life. 
Let  any  man  point  to  the  single  act  of  his  whole 
life  that  will  justify  such  an  uncharitable  construc 
tion  upon  his  future  course.  He  has  never  advo 
cated  it  in  any  shape :  he  has  never  written  to  the 
mother  bank  to  have  a  branch  placed  in  his  own 
state ;  he  has  never  wanted  the  mother  institution 
carried  there  either.  Can  Van  Buren  say  as  much  ? 
No  ;  he  has  no  constitutional  difficulty  on  the  sub 
ject:  and  everybody  knows,  if  he  is  left  to  deter 
mine  the  adoption  of  a  measure  by  its  expediency, 
its  expediency  is  apparent  to  him  only  so  far  as  it 
promotes  the  interest  of  himself  and  friends ;  and 
as  certain  as  the  growth  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
the  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  state,  and  the 
acquisition  of-  additional  political  influence  are 
desired  by  any  one  who  can  be  benefited  by  all 
or  either  of  these  objects,  just  so  certain  will  Van 
Buren  establish  a  great  national  bank  in  New  York. 
Are  there  any  so  blind  as  not  to  see  this  ?  How 
then  can  the  people  be  persuaded  that  Van  Buren 
can  be  safely  supported  on  account  of  his  opposi 
tion  to  the  bank,  and  Judge  White  distrusted  on 
the  same  question  ?  The  thing  is  too  ridiculous  ; 
and  therefore  I  now  tell  the  people  that  all  they 
hear  on  this  subject  from  Blair  and  Ritchie  is 


188  THE  LIFE   OF 

nothing  but  the  bugaboo  of  an  old  coat  and 
breeches  hung  up  to  scare  tliem. 

The  very  fact  that  Judge  White  is  the  people's 
candidate  against  the  office-holders  ;  that  he  is 
brought  forward  from  the  ranks  of  the  people,  as 
General  Jackson  was  himself,  and  not  from  a  sta 
tion  where  official  influence  usually  trains  the  can 
didate,  by  intrigue  and  management,  to  reach  the 
presidency,  has  very  much  alarmed  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  his  friends.  They  thought  Judge 
White  could  be  flattered  off,  and  commenced  that 
mode  of  proceeding  with  unusual  liberality.  They 
called  him  a  patriot,  an  honest  man,  a  pure  man,  a 
very  capable  man,  and  one  who  had  never  soiled 
his  spotless  character  with  any  thing  like  intrigue 
or  selfishness  in  the  pursuit  of  office.  But  that 
device  failing,  they  have  altered  their  tone ;  and 
from  dark  insinuations  and  deceitful  inuendoes, 
they  are  proceeding  to  malicious  charges. 

But  it  will  not  all  do  ;  the  people  will  have  their 
way,  and  the  man  they  support  will  triumph  over 
•>  venal  press  and  a  corrupt  combination  of  the  offi 
cial  Caucus.  As  soon  as  it  was  found  that  the  people 
would  dare  to  have  the  impudence  to  put  up  a  can 
didate  of  their  own,  in  spite  of  the  office-holders, 
they  determined  to  break  them  down,  if  they 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  189 

could,  with  a  convention  at  Baltimore,  and  gave 
out  that  the  convention  would  determine  between 
the  claims  of  the  respective  candidates  of  the  demo 
cratic  party.  They  now  call  White  the  candidate 
of  the  enemies  of  the  administration,  and  disown 
him  as  belonging  to  the  republican  ranks,  and  yet 
are  going  to  settle  his  claims  with  those  of  Van 
Buren !  In  the  name  of  common  sense,  what 
chance  will  he  have  at  the  convention,  composed 
entirely  of  individuals  who  call  him  a  traitor  to, 
and  deserter  from,  the  republican  party  ?  Caucuses 
settle  disputes  only  as  between  member  of  their 
own  party ;  and  as  Judge  White  is  rejected  from 
the  party,  for  having  the  effrontery  to  suffer  the 
people  to  put  him  up  in  opposition  to  Van  Baren, 
how  dare  the  caucus  to  consider  his  name  as  before 
them  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  relative 
merits  between  him  and  Van  Buren  ?  Every  one 
sees  and  knows  the  object ;  it  is  to  cheat  the  people 
with  the  idea  that  the  Jackson  party  have  got 
together ;  and  for  the  sake  of  keeping  the  party  , 
united,  and  preaching  the  necessity  of  union,  and 
sticking  to  the  principles  of  the  party,  and  all  that 
farrago,  they  will  come  out  with  a  long  address 
and  resolutions  recommending  Martin  Van  Buren 


190  THE   LIFE   OF 

for  the  presidency,  and  Richard  M.  Johnson  for 
the  vice-president,  (to  get  Kentucky,)  overlooking 
the  claims  of  William  C.  Rives.  They  would  rather 
run  the  risk  of  losing  Virginia,  which,  they  know, 
prefers  William  C.  Rives  for  president,  than  to 
lose  Kentucky.  Well,  let  them  try  it. 

As  great  confidence,  however,  as  they  place  in 
the  virtue  of  a  caucus,  yet  they  have  some  misgiv 
ings  as  to  complete  success  from  its  agency ;  and 
therefore  Van  Buren  had  rather  trust  to  his  often- 
tried  and  never-failing  trade  of  management;  and 
the  last  in  which  he  has  been  engaged,  is  very  little 
behind  any  of  his  previous  best  performances.  1 
trust,  however,  it  will  not  have  the  same  success. 
It  took  place  on  the  night  of  the  adjournment  of 
Congress,  and  was  well  laid,  though  badly  exe 
cuted.  It  is  said  to  have  been  conceived  by  the 
joint  operation  of  Van  Buren  and  Forsyth,  and 
executed  by  Cambreling,  but  so  badly  as  to  have 
not  only  failed  in  its  object,  but  will  recoil  upon 
the  jugglers,  if  there  is  virtue  enough  in  the  coun 
try  properly  to  appreciate  such  infamous  trickery 

Some  ten  or  fifteen  days  before  Congress  ad 
journed,  or  perhaps  longer,  the  house  of  repre 
sentatives  passed  what  was  called  the  fortification 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  19  J 

bill — the  bill  annually  passed  to  make  appropria 
tions  of  public  money  for  building  and  repairing 
fortifications,  which  amounted  to  four  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  thousand  dollars.  The  senate,  after 
adding  to  it  four  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dol 
lars,  at  the  instance  of  the  different  departments  of 
government,  for  furnishing  and  arming  those  forti 
fications,  showing  a  perfect  readiness  to  comply 
with  the  washes  and  to  satisfy  the  supposed  wants 
of  the  government,  passed  the  bill  and  sent  it  back 
to  the  house  on  the  24th  of  February,  being  seven 
days  before  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  It  is 
well  known  the  administration  had  a  decided  ma 
jority  in  the  house,  and  could  take  up  and  pass 
any  bill  they  might  think  proper  ;  but  instead  of 
doing  that,  in  relation  to  this  bill,  they  let  it  lay  on 
the  table,  no  doubt  for  the  very  express  purpose 
\vhich,  I  shall  presently  show,  the  bill  was  made 
to  subserve. 

The  committee  of  foreign  relations,  to  which 
was  referred  that  part  of  the  president's  message 
that  recommended  reprisals  on  the  commerce  of 
France,  had  determined  to  make  no  report  on  the 
subject,-  though  urgently  pressed  by  Mr.  Patton 
and  Mr.  Adams.  They  were  determined  not  to 
agree  with  the  senate,  but  felt  a  strong  inclination, 
if  not  to  support  the  president  in  his  hasty  and 


192  THE   LIFE    OF 

uncalled-for  recommendation,  at  least  so  to  justify 
him  as  not  to  let  him  lose  any  of  his  overgrown 
popularity  with  the  people.  There  was  a  strong 
party  in  the  house  entertaining  a  similar  temper, 
but  were  afraid  of  their  constituents  ;  for,  perhaps, 
in  no  proposed  measure  of  the  president  was  he  so 
little  sustained  by  the  people  as  in  his  wild  pro 
ject  of  war  with  the  French  nation.  This  was 
manifest  throughout  the  whole  country,  and  fortu 
nately  for  it,  was  reflected  back  upon  Congress. 
The  administration  party  felt  the  awkwardness  of 
their  situation :  they  liked  their  master,  but  they 
liked  themselves  better ;  they  would  very  willingly 
have  gratified  his  pride  with  a  war,  but  they  feared 
it  would  be  at  the  expense  of  their  seats ;  and  there 
fore,  while  they  would  not  grant  the  power  of 
making  reprisals,  they  were  determined,  as  far  as 
inflammatory  speeches  and  boasting  resolutions 
would  go  to  prop  up  the  president  in  his  foolish 
course,  he  should  have  them.  These  did  not  incur 
much  responsibility,  and  could  be  very  satisfacto 
rily  explained  when  they  reached  home  ;  producing 
no  war,  they  produced  no  harm. 

An  occasion  was  necessary  for  the  above  pur 
pose  ;  and  therefore,  to  give  the  committee  of 
foreign  relations  an  opportunity  to  reverse  their 
determination  not  to  report,  the  president  sent  in 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  193 

a  message  on  the  Friday  before  the  Tuesday  on 
which  Congress  was  obliged  to  adjourn,  accompa 
nied  with  the  correspondence  of  Mr.  Livingston 
with  the  French  government,  since  the  receipt  of 
the  president's  annual  message  in  France.  This 
communication  was  referred  to  the  committee  on 
foreign  relations,  and  they  promised  to  report  on 
the  next  clay,  which  was  accordingly  done,  and 
the  same  was  postponed  to  Monday,  the  day  before 
Congress  was  to  adjourn,  the  fortification  bill  still 
sleeping  upon  the  table. 

The  report  of  the  committee  contained  three 
resolutions: — 1.  That  it  would  be  incompatible 
with  the  rights  and  honour  of  the  United  States 
further  to  negotiate  in  relation  to  the  treaty 
entered  into  by  France,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1831 ; 
and  this  house  will  insist  upon  its  execution,  as 
ratified  by  both  governments.  2.  That  the  com 
mittee  of  foreign  affairs  be  discharged  from  the 
further  consideration  of  the  subject.  3.  That  con 
tingent  preparation  ought  to  be  made  to  meet 
any  emergency  growing  out  of  our  relations  with 
France. 

It  will  be  plainly  perceived  that  these  resolu 
tions  went  as  far  as  they  could  possibly  go  to 
involve  us  in  war,  without  an  actual  declara 
tion.  They  contained  the  identical  measures 
R 


J94  THE  LIFE  OF 

which  immediately  precede  actual  hostilities,  viz. 
a  total  rupture  of  negotiations,  and  a  prepaar- 
tion  for  war.  Mr.  Adams,  who  supported  the 
administration  in  this  measure,  could  not  go  the 
cessation  of  negotiation,  nor  indeed,  a  contingent 
preparation  for  battle,  and  therefore  he  submitted 
an  amendment  which  merely  insisted  on  the  treaty 
without  any  alteration.  The  temper  of  the  house 
was  soon  manifested  against  the  report,  though 
there  were  some  fiery  administration  blades  drawn 
in  its  support,  merely  intended  to  flatter  their  old 
chieftain  and  prepare  the  way  for  an  appointment, 
as  their  constituents  had  relieved  some  of  them 
from  any  further  cares  in  the  business  of  legisla 
tion;  Upon  the  final  issue  of  the  question,  the 
report  was  rejected,  and  a  simple  short  resolution 
passed,  expressive  of  the  sense  of  the  house,  that 
the  treaty  they  believed  to  be  just,  and  ought  to 
be  insisted  on,  but  the  mode  and  manner  was  left 
perfectly  indefinite.  Now,  here  was  a  final  deci 
sion  of  this  important  question,  upon  full  discus 
sion,  in  which  the  house  declared,  by  the  rejection 
of  the  report,  unanimously,  that  contingent  pre 
paration  to  meet  any  emergency  growing  out  of 
our  relations  with  France,  was  unnecessary.  Then 
wherefore  the  necessity  of  bringing  this  subject 
before  the  house  again  ?  It  was  to  answer  a  poli- 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREX.  195 

tical  purpose.  The  administration  party  believed 
they  could  not  go  to  war  upon  the  strength  of 
their  own  personal  popularity,  but  that  the  presi 
dent  could;  and  that  if,  under  the  specious  pretence 
of  putting  the  country  in  a  state  of  defence — a  mat 
ter  the  people  can  never  well  object  to — they  could 
throw  the  whole  treasury  into  the  hands  of  the 
executive  for  that  object,  it  would  be  a  very  easy 
matter  for  him  to  superinduce  hostilities,  if,  from 
any  political  considerations,  it  should  be  desirable 
to  do  so. 

Accordingly,  the  fortification  bill,  kept  for  that 
very  purpose,  was  brought  up  on  the  last  night  of 
the  session,  and  an  amendment  was  added  to  the 
senate's  amendment,  before  mentioned,  the  purport 
of  which  was,  to  give  to  the  president  three  mil 
lions  of  dollars  to  place  the  country  in  a  proper 
state  of  defence. 

This  proposition,  as  might  be  expected,  pro 
duced  a  deep  sensation.  It  was  impossible  to  con 
ceive  what  object  a  party  could  have  in  such  a 
measure,  when  they  had  only  the  evening  before 
unanimously  declared  that  preparations  were  un 
necessary.  So  it  was,  it-  passed,  and  went  to  the 
senate,  where  it  was  promptly  rejected,  Judge 
White  voting  for  its  rejection.  Upon  its  return 
to  the  house,  they  insisted  on  their  amendment. 


196  THE   LIFE    OF 

A  committee  of  conference  resulted  from  the  dis 
agreement  between  the  two  houses.  When  they 
met,  the  senate's  committee  insisted  on  these  prin 
ciples:  That  if  an  appropriation  was  made,  it 
should  be  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  of  the  con 
stitution  ;  that  it  should  be  so  specific  as  to  ensure 
the  necessary  responsibility  for  a  proper  and  judi 
cious  expenditure  thereof;  and  to  that  end  they 
were  willing  to  a  further  appropriation  of  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  two  following 
specific  objects:  1.  Three  hundred  thousand  as  an 
additional  appropriation  for  arming  the  fortifica 
tions  of  the  United  States  ;  2.  Five  hundred  thou 
sand  as  an  additional  appropriation  for  the  repairs 
and  equipment  of  the  ships  of  war  of  the  United 
States.  This  compromise  was  effected  after  some 
discussion,  but  finally  without  a  dissenting  vote. 

The  committee  of  conference  dissolved,  and  the 
chairman  of  each  committee  from  the  two  houses 
was  ordered  to  report  the  result  of  their  proceed 
ings  to  his  respective  house.  Mr.  Cambreling  was 
the  chairman  of  the  house  of  representatives ;  and 
the  manner  of  his  acting  I  now  give  from  a  publi 
cation  of  the  facts,  in  which  he  and  his  abettors  are 
called  on  to  deny  them,  if  they  dare;  and  they 
shall  be  substantiated,  says  the  writer,  if  the  parties 
shall  venture  to  do  so. 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  197 

When  he  left  the  committee  of  conference,  after 
its  dissolution,  he  returned  to  the  house,  and  deter 
mined  to  report  the  result  for  its  consideration. 
"  On  entering  the  door  on  the  left  hand  of  the 
speaker's  chair,  or  immediately  afterwards,  he 
encountered  the  vice-president  and  the  secretary 
of  state,  one  or  both  of  whom  addressed  him  nearly 
in  these  words  :  '  What  have  you  done  with  the 
amendment  to  the  fortification  bill  ?'  Mr.  Cambre- 
ling  replied,  (  The  committee  of  conference  have 
agreed  to  substitute  a  specific  appropriation  of  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  three  million  ;  and 
I  am  instructed  to  report  it  to  the  house.'  Mr. 
Forsyth  or  Mr.  Van  Buren,  or  both  of  them, 
sneered  at  the  unexpected  information  of  their 
chairman  of  foreign  relations,  and  inquired  of  him, 
in  an  obvious  tone  of  rebuke,  '  Why  did  you  agree 
to  a  conference  ?  What  is  eight  hundred  thousand 
dollars  ?  The  proposition  is  ridiculous.'  ' 

The  writer,  after  stating  that  the  above  is  sub 
stantially  what  took  place,  and  that  he  stands 
ready  to  prove  it  by  three  persons  who  heard  it, 
proceeds  as  follows :  "  After  this  admonition, 
Mr.  Cambreling  resumed  his  seat  in  silence ;  and 
until  the  house  was  reminded  of  it,  by  a  resolution 
from  the  senate,  requesting  to  be  informed  of  the 
disposition  of  the  report,  the  honourable  chairman 
R  2 


THE   LIFE   OF 

sedulously  withheld  the  bill  from  his  associate 
conferrees.  He  at  length  rose  and  refused  to  report 
it,  on  the  grounds  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour  and 
the  thinness  of  the  house.  Mr.  Parker  of  New 
Jersey,  and  Mr.  Barringer  of  North  Carolina,  pro 
tested  against  the  gentleman's  reasons,  and  de 
manded  the  report.  Mr.  Lewis  of  Alabama,  one 
of  the  conferrees,  proposed  to  present  the  report, 
since  the  chairman  had  declined  to  do  his  duty, 
and  accordingly  sent  the  bill  to  the  clerk's  desk. 
Mr.  Cambreling  objected  to  the  reception  of  it  by 
the  house,  as  he  observed  there  was  not  a  quorum 
present.  Mr.  Lewis  then  moved  a  call  of  the 
house ;  and  the  proud  representative  of  the  views 
and  wishes  of  your  '  favourite  son'  [this  letter  was 
addressed  to  a  citizen  of  New  York]  protested 
against  the  right  of  sustaining  the  call,  and  de 
manded  to  know  '  what  member  will  answer  to 
his  name  ?'  This  hint  was  sufficient ;  the  watch 
word  passed  through  the  ranks  of  '  the  faithful,' 
who,  in  dutiful  submission,  bowed  to  the  reflected 
mandate  of  their  master." 

The  lateness  of  the  hour  and  the  want  of  a  quo 
rum  \vere  only  miserable  pretexts  for  preventing 
the  action  of  the  house  on  the  report.  Cambreling 
had  got  his  cue  from  Van  Buren  and  Forsyth  at 
the  door,  and  the  thing  was  to  be  defeated.  Yes, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  199 

gentle  reader,  Cambreling  voted  for  the  Cumber 
land  road  bill,  by  which  he  gave  six  hundred  and 
forty-six  thousand  dollars  of  the  public  money  to 
that  object,  after  he  had  himself  objected  to  the 
lateness  of  the  hour,  and  a  cessation  of  his  official 
character,  as  a  reason  for  not  making  one  of  the 
most  important  reports  that  could  come  before  the 
house ;  the  failure  to  do  which,  involved  the  loss 
of  a  no  less  object  than  the  whole  fortification  bill. 
And  further,  after  his  'good  and  true  men'  had 
refused  to  answer  upon  a  call  of  the  house,  a  count 
was  made  by  himself  and  Mr.  Lewis,  the  result  of 
which  showed  the  number  of  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  members  in  their  seats ;  and  it  can  be 
proved,  for  the  fact  was  ascertained,  and  the  names 
of  the  persons  noted,  that  there  were  sixteen  admi 
nistration  members  walking  about  within  the  cham 
ber,  but  without  the  bar  of  the  house,  making, 
when  added  to  the  above,  ten  more  than  a  quorum, 
who  could  not  be  made  to  come  within  the  bar ; 
and  so  tumultuous  had  the  proceedings  of  the 
house  become,  that  they  actually  defied  the  autho 
rity  of  the  speaker,  and  the  house  broke  up  in 
perfect  disorder.  Now  what  was  all  this  for  ?  I 
will  tell  the  reader.  To  effect  the  loss  of  the  bill, 
and  to  throw  the  blame  on  the  senate.  As  soon 
as  Van  Buren  found  that  Judge  White  had  voted 


200  THE  kiFE  OF 

against  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  president, — un 
called-for  by  him,  at  the  last  hour  of  the  session, 
without  any  of  the  usual  estimates  for  such  an 
immense  appropriation,  without  specifying  how  01 
for  what  particular  objects  it  was  to  be  used,  con 
trary  to  all  former  usages  of  appropriating  public 
money, — the  enormous  sum  of  three  million  dollars, 
to  be  disposed  of  as  the  president  might  think  pro 
per,  Van  Buren  believed  he  had  so  committed 
himself  that  he  could  for  ever  destroy  his  prospects 
upon  the  presidency,  with  this  vote.  He  believed 
that  there  were  two  consequences  flowing  from  it, 
either  of  which  would  destroy  him ;  but  united, 
they  were  perfectly  overwhelming. 

1.  His  friends  could  use  it  to  great  advantage, 
as  is  proved  by  what  has  lately  appeared  in  the 
Globe,  in  reuniting  the  Jackson  party  on  himself, 
by  showing  that  Judge  White  had  voted  with  the 
opposition,  against  the  administration,  on  one  of  its 
most  decried  measures,  and  which  actually  in 
volved  a  distrust  of  the  honesty  of  the  president 
himself,  by  refusing  to  give  him  the  control  of  so 
large  an  amount  of  money ;  that  the  unusual  sum, 
and  the  unprecedented  manner  of  appropriating  it, 
were  no  good  reasons  for  objecting  to  the  measure, 
as  Judge  White  knew  that  General  Jackson  was 
too  pure  a  patriot  to  make  an  improper  use  of  it 


MARTIN  VAN   BUREN.  201 

By-the-by,  the  same  reason  would  authorize  the 
conferring  upon  General  Jackson  absolute  power ; 
but  whatever  may  be  the  wishes  of  his  friends  on 
this  point,  such  is  not  our  constitution,  or  the 
principles  of  our  government 

2.  That  the  above  object  would  be  rendered 
doubly  efficient  by  a  total  loss  of  the  bill,  inasmuch 
as  Judge  White  would  come  in  for  his  share  of  the 
blame  with  the  rest  of  the  disobedient  senate,  upon 
whom  it  was  intended  to  cast  the  odium  of  defeat 
ing  a  bill,  the  object  of  which  was  to  defend  the 
country.  It  was  believed  that  public  indignation 
could  be  aroused  to  a  most  maddening  pitch  against 
a  body  who  would  leave  the  country  without  even 
the  usual  appropriations  for  defence,  at  a  time  when 
war  was  actually  hovering  upon  our  very  borders, 
and  that  poor  Judge  White  would  come  in  for 
more  than  a  Benjamin's  portion  of  censure  for  such 
an  outrageous  act — censure  for  the  act  itself,  ana 
censure  for  deserting,  as  they  would  call  it,  the 
Jackson  party,  and  countenancing  by  his  vote  an 
opposition  whose  sole  aim  was  to  disparage  the 
president's  fame,  and  disgrace  his  administration.  - 

The  plan  wras  a  deep  one;  and,  but  for  the 
bungling,  barefaced  manner  of  its  execution,  it  is 
more  than  probable  it  would  have  succeeded ;  but 


£04  THE   LIFE    OF 

answer,  which  did  not  admit  of  any  thing  like  a 
fair,  open,  and  manly  course  of  conduct. 

I  have  seen  another  reason  assigned  for  this 
double-dealing  conduct  ;  and  though  I  have  no 
doubt  it  had  its  weight,  yet  the  plan  I  have  men 
tioned  was  the  original  one,  and  this  other  was  a 
consequence  of  that,  not  seen  at  the  time  of  first 
moving  in  the  matter.  It  is  this  :  the  president 
was  at  the  capitol,  as  is  usual  for  him  on  the  last 
night  of  the  session,  for  the  purpose  of  signing  the 
bills.  Just  before  this  difficulty  was  settled  by  the 
committee  of  conference,  the  senate  had  rejected  the 
nomination  of  Mr.Taney :  this,  added  to  the  rejection 
of  the  three  million  appropriation,  so  excited  his  feel 
ings,  that,  in  a  fit  of  undignified  irritation,  he  left  the 
capitol,  under  the  pretext  that  it  was  past  tiuelve 
o'clock,  though  it  is  well  known  that  in  no  previ- 
ous^session  of  Congress  has  he  ever  left  the  house 
till  it  adjourned,  and  has  often  remained  till  near 
daybreak.  His  friends,  and  those  concerned  in 
the  intrigue,  found  an  additional  motive  in  this  act 
of  the  president,  to  defeat  the  bill ;  for,  if  perchance 
the  house  should  agree  to  the  report,  the  responsi 
bility  of  its  loss  would  fall  upon  the  president ; 
because,  having  left  the  capitol  in  a  pet,  and  pro 
nouncing  that  the  functions  of  Congress  had  ceascda 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  205 

by  virtue  of  the  intervention  of  the  hour  of  twelve 
o'clock,  he  could  not  take  back  this  decision,  and 
consequently  the  bill  would  lose  his  signature.  I 
repeat,  therefore,  this  was  a  cause  of  opposition  to 
the  report,  arising  after  the  original  intrigue  had 
made  considerable  progress  towards  its  accomplish 
ment. 


It  will  be  obvious  to  the  reader  that  I  have  only 
been  able  to  glance  at  the  great  events  connected 
with  the  life  of  our  hero  :  there  is  none,  however, 
in  which  he  has  taken  part,  that  is  not  imbued  with 
the  true  spirit  of  his  character  ;  first,  not  to  be 
committed  on  either  side,  until  he  has  wrell  weighed 
the  probabilities  of  success  to  his  own  personal 
schemes ;  then,  if  in  his  choice  of  friends  he  finds  he 
has  made  a  mistake,  not  to  hesitate  a  moment  to  re 

<* 

trace  his  steps  and  take  the  other  side ;  and,  indeed, 
if  this  does  not  realize  all  it  promised,  to  tack  back 
again ;  and  so  on,  as  long  as  it  suits  his  interest. 

I  think  I  have  presented  much  useful  informa 
tion  to  the  young  politician,  both  in  the  origin  and 
frequent  changes  of  parties  in  this  great  republic, 
and  the  facility  with  which  great  men  may  change 
from  side  to  side  without  incurring  that  disgrace 
and  reproach  so  justly  due  to  such  unblushing 
S 


206  THE  LIFE  OF 

inconsistency.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this  last 
will  be  useful  as  an  example  to  be  followed,  but  as 
a  meanness  to  be  shunned  and  despised. 

There  are  many  persons  who  will  call  my  book 
perfect  trash;  will  wonder  how  people  of  sense 
can  read  such  nonsense.  Against  such  I  make  no 
complaint,  for  in  so  doing  I  might  be  guilty  of 
impiety ;  for  I  might  possibly  arraign  the  acts  of 
^intellects  not  altogether  answerable  for  their  opera 
tions  ;  and  we  are  admonished  by  the  Scripture 
that  he  who  calleth  his  "  brother  a  fool  is  in  dan 
ger  of  hell  fire." 

There  are  others  who  will  say  that  I  never  wrote 
this  book ;  that  some  one  else  has  done  it  for  me  ; 
that  I  have  not  education  and  sense  enough  to  put 
together  such  a  work.  To  such,  and  especially  it 
they  be  good  Jackson  men,  I  would  say,  have  a 
caution  how  you  use  such  expressions,  for  I  well 
recollect  when  it  was  said,  and  believed  by  a  great 
many  weak  folks,  to  be  sure,  that  General  Jack 
son  did  not  write  his  own  messages.  At  this  day, 
no  one  can  be  found  silly  or  malicious  enough  to 
make  any  such  insinuation.  And  the  way  it  was 
discovered  that  he  did  actually  write  his  own  mes 
sages  is  very  curious  indeed,  and  goes  to  show  how 
guarded  people  ought  to  be  in  ascribing  an  author's 
writings  to  other  pens.  It  was  this :  when  the 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  207 

president  wrote  his  famous  proclamation — a  paper 
of  his  usual  brilliancy  of  composition,  rather 
exceeding  his  former  productions,  in  consequence 
of  the  nature  of  the  subject — some  said  it  was 
written  by  Livingston  ;  others,  by  Lewis  McLean  j 
but  Tom  Ritchie,  who  finds  out  every  thing,  pub 
lished  in  his  Truth-teller,  "that  he  had  seen  a 
man  who  saw  a  man  in  Washington  city,  that  told 
him  he  had  seen  another  man  who  said  he  saw  the 
notes  of  the  proclamation  in  the  jjresidenfs  own 
handwriting"  This  was  proof  conclusive ;  so 
that  when  the  president  wrote  that  long  and  able 
exposition  of  the  constitutional  powers  of  the 
federal  government,  accompanying  his  message 
recommending  the  force  bill,  in  which  he  displayed 
so  much  deep  legal  learning,  such  extensive  re 
search,  frequently  using  such  expressions  as  this, 
"I  find  by  such  authorities,"  "/draw  my  deduc 
tions,"  "/am  of  opinion,"  "/come  to  this  conclu 
sion," — no  one  has  ever  doubted  since,  upon  his 
own  authority  as  above  shown,  confirmed  by 
Ritchie's  point  blank  proof,  that  he  is  the  author 
of  every  great  state  paper  that  bears  his  name. 
Now  why  may  I  not  be  the  author  of  my  own 
works  ?  I  use  the  wrord  "/,"  as  well  as  General 
Jackson.  No,  no,  people  must  not  think  that 


208  THE  LIFE  OF 

because  Me  and  General  Jackson  had  no  education 
and  come  from  nothing,  we  can't  write.  The  very 
fact  that  we  have  risen  in  the  world  from  such  an 
unpromising  beginning,  shows  we  have  strong 
minds ;  and  it  only  requires  a  little  mixing  with 
scholars  to  get  a  sharp  notion  of  putting  one's  ideas 
upon  paper. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  all  I  ask  is,  not  to  regard  the 
author  or  his  language :  the  only  real  question  for 
the  reader  is,  Are  the  author's  facts  true  ?  If 
they  are  false,  he  and  they  ought  to  be  condemned ; 
but  if  they  are  true,  he  and  they  ought  to  have 
their  proper  influence,  though  they  should  spring 
from  the  brain  and  pen  of  the  most  illiterate  man 
in  all  the  world.  I  repeat,  the  candour  and  the 
conscience  of  the  reader  is  all  I  ask. 

It  is  usual  to  sum  up  the  character  whose  life  is 
written,  by  a  short  description  of  his  mind  and 
person.  As  a  substitute  for  this  last  duty  of  an 
author,  I  beg  leave  to  conclude  my  memoir  with 
the  following  extract  from  an  elegant  writer  : 

"  Always  suspect  a  man  who  affects  great  soft 
ness  of  manner,  an  unruffled  evenness  of  temper, 
and  an  enunciation  studied  and  slow.  These  things 
are  unnatural,  and  speak  a  degree  of  mental  disci 
pline  into  which  he  that  has  no  purpose  of  craft  or 


1 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  209 

design  to  answer  cannot  submit  to  drill  himself. 
The  most  successful  knaves  are  usually  of  this 
description,  as  smooth  as  razors  dipt  in  oil,  and  as 
sharp.  They  affect  the  softness  of  the  dove,  which 
they  have  not,  in  order  to  hide  the  cunning  of  the 
serpent,  which  they  have." 


THE    END. 


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